Utopia
by rockgirl x
Summary: X and Zero have their work cut out for them when a secret organization needs their help…
1. Infiltration

Title: Utopia

Series: Rockman X

Pairing: Jade/Kate, Zero/Iris, X/Alia

Rated: T

Content: Language, Violence, blood, Angst, OC (original characters)

Summary: X and Zero have their work cut out for them when a secret organization needs their help…

Disclaimer: All characters and majority of situations are property of Capcom. I do not make money off of this fic. Plots coincide with their respective games and/or Mangas. I do not claim them as my own. My OCs are my property. Don't steal them please!

*This story was completed on June 26, 2008, 2:09:10 AM

--------------------------------

Chapter 1: Infiltration

*Sigh*

The small sound of a heavy sigh was the only sound heard outside of the Maverick Hunter H.Q.

It had been quiet ever since the last reploid war. Everyone was beginning to relax and security was starting to slack off, however, there was still an uneasiness in the air; an uneasiness that the majority of Hunters were oblivious too. All accept two…

A blue-armoured reploid sat on the roof of the H.Q. staring off into the distance, pondering life. He did this often. He couldn't help it. He tried to focus on the fact that he had saved his mentor Zero from the clutches of Sigma before it was too late. How hard he had worked to find his best friends parts and rebuild him, so that they may reunite to protect society. He tried to focus on the positives, but there was something bothering him that he could not ignore.

A cold wind blew towards the base causing the blue-reploid to shiver. Coming out of his deep contemplation he noticed storm clouds heading towards the city in the distance, the only part in the clouds being the large strobe lights on top of the tallest building. He jumped suddenly as he felt a hand rest on his shoulder.

"Looks like a storm is coming…" A tall, blonde reploid in crimson armour stated, he too staring off into the vastness.

"Zero…"

"X, I have a bad feeling. You feel it too don't you?"

X nodded in agreement fixing his gaze at his friend and partner as he waited for him to continue.

"Ever since Dr. Doppler discovered a cure for the so-called maverick virus everyone has been joining him. Don't get me wrong X, It's good that we might not have to worry about Mavericks anymore if this anti-virus works long term, but I can't shake the feeling that it all came together too easily."

"What do you mean?" X asked quizzically.

"The newly discovered maverick virus… The miracle-cure for mavericks and preventative for reploids… The perfect utopia Doppler Town… These are all good, but unbelievable without some kind of price. I wonder what the price will be…?"

"Why can't we be happy that the utopia we have been fighting for has finally begun?" X asked defensively.

"Suit yourself X." Zero smirked walking towards the doorway leading back into H.Q.

X looked down at his feet. He so desperately wanted to cling onto his hope that humans and reploids could finally live in peace, but a tiny part of him also knew that Zero had a point…

The next day an alert went out to Maverick Hunter Base about an emergency in Doppler Town. X and Zero rushed to the scene wondering what the cause of this sudden disturbance was.

At the far end of the city at the outskirts intersection, roads were blocked off. A lone maverick standing at the centre was holding a gun. He was surrounded by a few bloody reploid corpses.

X walked slowly towards the blockade refusing to take out his X-buster. Before speaking he signaled Zero to stay back. Zero gave a nasty glare, as if he was insulted by Xs sudden order, but he decided to obey since the 17th unit was originally called to handle the affair. The #0 Unit came freely as back-up. Zero knew X could handle himself and his glare suddenly turned into a warm smile and nod of approval.

"Listen, I'm not going to hurt you. Please put down the gun. You don't want to do this." X said calmly as he slowly maneuvered over the blockade and walked towards the maverick.

"No… I can't… The voices… They're telling me to do it… I must follow them… humans, reploids, people… kill, kill! For good… For all"

X looked at the maverick confused.

"I don't understand." He shook his head quickly remembering standard procedure "Drop the weapon and put your hands up!" X said forcefully.

"No… won't betray… won't shame… leave… go away!"

"What? Betray who? What are you talking about?" X, in shock aimed his buster gun at the maverick. The mavericks trigger finger trembled.

"No… No… NO!!!" The maverick started to scream hysterically.

X couldn't tell if it was from pain or frustration. He stood in disbelief, unsure of what to do next. If he moved the maverick may fire and hurt a standby, if he didn't he could be the one shot dead, and standing there dumbfounded would be useless. X froze as he was enveloped by the familiar feeling of self-doubt.

"All civilians evacuate the area! I repeat, evacuate the area!! Run NOW!!" Zero yelled as he jumped over the blockades and ran towards the maverick.

"Zero NO!!!" X yelled running in front of his comrade, pushing him back.

*BANG!!!!*

Both reploids stopped and stared in horror as a pool of blood came pouring from the mavericks' neck, his body falling forward and hitting the pavement.

"Z-Zero what did you…?" X stuttered in disbelief.

"I didn't do anything! I don't even have any weapons out…" Zero exclaimed "What the hell?" Zero stood up scanning the crowd who were too paralyzed in fear to move from the crime scene "Don't move! I want to know who fired that weapon! Whoever did is now a criminal and will be taken back to H.Q. with us and put under arrest!"

X walked towards the corpse to examine it as Zero headed towards the crowd to perform a routine search.

"You think you were being a hero firing that shot?" Zero stated smugly, searching the: hands, jackets, purses, pockets, battle armour, etc. of all the reploids and humans in the vicinity.

X scanned the corpse. The body was fine, but he noticed that reploids head was nowhere to be found. The majority of the damage was from the collision which appeared to have been at the back of the neck hitting the main set of wires connecting the cybernetic brain to the rest of the body. A fatal blow no question.

X soon recognized the damaged area as that similar to his plasma gun. Whoever did this used plasma shots similar to his. X stood up and walked towards Zero.

"Any luck Zero?"

"No, nobody has any weapons on them. All the reploids deny shooting anything."

"Even if they did none of the guns humans use could have caused this type of damage and it is rare to find a reploid with a plasma buster of that strength."

"What do you mean X?"

"I mean the wounded area looks similar to the damage my X-buster can cause, but it couldn't have been me or you because the contact point of the blast was at the back and we were both in front of the maverick at the time."

Zero looked and noticed that the crowd was still standing around and some were trying to listen in on their conversation "Go home!" Zero ordered the crowd "X, I think we should whisper from now on…"

X smiled and nodded like he was ready to burst out laughing "Ok. Let's head back to H.Q."

They were about to warp out of Doppler Town when suddenly an emergency call came from the transmission comm. It urged them to get back to Maverick Hunter Headquarters immediately. That they were under attack and needed back up.

"H.Q. is under attack!" X exclaimed.

"Let's go!" Replied Zero as both men teleported to the front gates of their base.

Right away both robots looked up and saw three giant flying robots shooting at the front defenses. X shot at two of the three flying machines causing the two to crash into the ground away from the base however, the last one was gaining speed. X and Zero jumped into the air hurling them selves at the flying robot. X fired rapidly at its mid-section causing blood, oil, and electricity to drain from its stomach. At the same time Zero slashed out its eyes and ripped its neck open with his Z-saber causing it to crash near the base with little damage.

"X, I'll clear the rest of the enemies out here. You go inside and defend the interior."

"ok!" X ran into the front doors of the base destroying all the enemies in his way until he saw a familiar reploid in the distance. He increased his speed thrusters until he saw who it was waiting for him.

"Mac, where have you been?"

Mac just laughed at Xs question and shot an electronic force-field at X trapping him on his knees.

"Urgh!! Damnit! Mac what are you--?"

"You are far too trusting X! I follow Doppler now and I want you to join us… if not by free will then by force!" Mac snapped his finger and X was carried away by the machine maintaining the force-field.

Zero cut a whole into the ceiling above where Mac and X had been. He cursed when he realized he was too late and that Mac had indeed captured X.

"Shit! I'm too late! But he can't be far… I'll get you Mac, you traitor!"

Zero continued deeper into the base killing every maverick in his path. He had a bad feeling and wanted to rush to find X and Mac as soon as possible.

"X!!!" Zero yelled running towards the electronic trap X was in "Hold on!"

"Not so fast!" Mac said teleporting in front of Zero holding his hand up to his face "You think I'll give you your partner that easily? Hah! You'll have to fight for him!"

"Fine" Zero agreed taking out his Z-saber readily.

The fight lasted for a good 10 minutes. Zero cutting Mac easily making puddles of his blood spill onto the floor. Zero made his final cut stabbing Mac in the chest casing him to collapse onto the floor.

"Rot in hell Zero" Were Macs final words before he died.

Zero ran to X and destroyed the machine holding him captive "Are you ok X?"

"Yes, Zero I'm ok."

"Be careful next time."

"I will."

"These forces are Doppler's subjects."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, and there's more on the way, which means our main maverick is still in here somewhere. We must find it fast so the re-enforcements will stop."

"Leave it to me!"

Zero warped back to the front of the base to keep the re-enforcements at bay while X searched deeper inside for the boss maverick. X stopped as he felt a sudden rumble under his feet. It began to increase in intensity as he looked up and felt the asphalt from the roof raining on him.

"The roof… The main maverick is on the roof Zero!" X shouted into his comm radio.

"I'm stuck here. Take care of it."

"Roger."

X made his way to the roof of MHHQ. When he finally reached the top he was surprised to see an old acquaintance of his, a giant robot with spiked wrecking balls for arms and glowing green eyes.

"Maoh the Giant! What are you doing? You're a construction robot. There have been no orders to tear the base down."

Maoh took a swing at X with his spiked wrecking ball. Clearly he was ready to fight and nothing was going to change his mind.

"Maoh… You can't even talk… I'll put you out of your misery so you may rest in peace…"

X charged his buster and aimed it at Maoh the Giants' head. X closed his eyes, turned away and shot him square between the eyes. The low screeching sound made Xs stomach turn as he fell backwards crashing into the ground.

"X, the maverick attack on the base has been stopped." Zero teleported in and greeted X with a nod "Good work."

"Same to you" X reciprocated "I'm going to go check on everyone."

"I'll join you in a minute." Zero paused and looked out into the horizon "I have a feeling we haven't seen the last of them…"

Meanwhile…

A dark figure looms from the rooftop of a nearby building where the berserk maverick incident had taken place. The figure sits on the cold cement leaning against one of the strobe lights.

The lights cast its shadow over the figure revealing the person to be female. She wore black metal armour and was wearing a long leather coat so that she could not be easily spotted when the darkness set in.

She stood up and adjusted her headset.

"Are you sure this is necessary?" She spoke into the microphone.

"I think it is. You know we need their help… We can't do this alone." The navigator responded.

"What if they refuse to help us?"

"They shouldn't. We are all working for the same cause."

"That may be. But…"

"I know how you feel… We don't seem important in the grand scheme of things, but… We have to think of everyone's safety. We are both only humans."

"I know… We can't endanger others lives and I can't be our main line of defense forever."

"You did the right thing saving X and Zero back there…"

"Did I? I don't see how…"

"Killing isn't the answer. We all believe that too. You know that. That is why I believe that if anything X will help us, so Zero should follow."

"At least you don't have to fight."

"Correction you won't let me fight!"

"Don't start!"

"Then YOU don't start!"

"I don't think I'll be able to locate them until morning."

"Ok, then please be safe and head back. You've had a long day. Get some sleep."

"I look forward too it. See you soon."

She teleported off the building as the sun finally disappeared leaving the world now covered in Darkness.


	2. Stranger

Chapter 2: Stranger

Thunder and rain poured over Doppler Town that night. The storm that was moving closer to MHHQ as if to convey the omen of tragedy that would soon be approaching.

During the night reploids began to act strangely. They walked out of their homes and began murderous riots all over the city. It was pure chaos. And where was the supposed savior Dr. Doppler in all of this?

He was busy hiding in his lab creating a new body for an unknown reploid he'd found on the street a few months ago. Doppler felt sorry for the reploids unfortunate destruction and decided to build him the ultimate body to defend himself in the future.

'Reploids can be such monsters sometimes, just like humans…' He thought to himself. He laughed a diabolical laugh just then as if his last piece of sanity had been swept away. All he knew was that he had to keep building the body for his subject. It had to be perfect, at all costs.

Back at Hunter Base X and Zero were startled awake by the emergency alarm. Mavericks were on the loose all over Doppler Town causing it to be considered a war-zone. The safest approach was to clear each infected area of the city one by one.

"You and I will take separate paths X. I'll scout around and take out some of the main mavericks nearby while you go to the outer parts of town and take care of the rest."

"Sure thing Zero See you later."

His first destination was the Ski resort where the maverick Blizzard Buffalo used to work at. It didn't take X long to find him. He was working away on an ice-sculpture. X did not know what the purpose of this was, however.

"Blizzard Buffalo stand down and come back to Maverick Hunter with me!"

The maverick didn't even turn around. He kept working on his ice-sculpture as if he didn't even hear X behind him.

"Hey!" X raised his voice "Do you understand what I'm saying to you?"

"No, he doesn't. It seems these mavericks have been completely taken over by the maverick-virus!"

X quickly turned around towards the mysterious female voice that had just answered his question. He turned to see a female in black armour from the neck down. She had a white complexion with green eyes and her hair was long, blonde, and tied in a pony-tail. Her armour looked identical to any ordinary fighting reploids design minus the large boots. Her boots were platform knee length hooker boots fixed with metal plating for protection.

"Who are you?" X asked.

"Shut up, shut, SHUT UP!! I'm trying to work here!! Stop distracting me! I'll kill you!!" Blizzard Buffalo shouted in anger.

"The formalities come later X. He's gone crazy! We have to take him down now!" The woman commanded taking out her weapon. She took out her arm cannon which looked similar to Xs with the exception of her hand staying in place and multiple cannon holes appeared around it.

X aimed his X-buster at the mavericks' chest while the woman ran to the side a few feet away from them. She tapped her headset and held her microphone.

"What are you doing?" X asked looking in her direction.

"We have a giant maverick on our hands here. Can you analyze it and tell me its weak spots?"

"Ok. Give me a few minutes."

'Who is she talking too?' X looked puzzled as he jumped to avoid Buffalos icy wind blasts.

She ran towards the maverick and Xs direction.

"X we have to keep him pre-occupied for a few minutes! I'll explain later just do it!" The woman yelled forcefully.

"I guess I have no choice!" X shouted back shooting plasma blasts at the enemy. They hit him, but did not do any damage "Why aren't my shots hurting him?"

X ran swiftly dodging the attacks until a large ice bullet hit X in the stomach sending him sprawling to the ground.

"X!!" The armoured woman shouted "Get up please! Hang in for just a bit longer!" She turned her head to her microphone "Hurry up!" she mumbled into the headset.

"Almost done" The navigator answered.

The woman ran to Xs side and carried him to a nearby crevice beside the ski-resort. They huddled quietly while Blizzard Buffalo looked for them.

"Finished" The navigator informed "The weak point is the neck!"

"But it's covered in armour!"

"Find a way to make his head go back, snag his armoured plating, and shoot! I'm sorry that's all I can suggest the rest is up to you… By the way is he with you?"

"Yeah"

X opened his eyes and sat up "Where is Blizzard Buffalo?" X asked as he stood up wearily.

"He's looking for us. Can you fight?"

"Yes."

"Good. Our enemies' weakness is his neck! It's covered in armour, so we'll need to find a way to get it off and shoot the synthetic skin underneath. Can you help me?"

X nodded and readied his buster cannon "I have an idea. You sneak up behind him and quickly climb to his shoulders, grab the neck plating and pull it off. Make sure he struggles enough to throw you off. Once it's off and I know you're a safe distance away I'll charge my X-buster and defeat him."

"Ok good plan. You distract him while I sneak behind him, so his sensors won't catch me."

X ran out of hiding and towards Blizzard Buffalo shooting like a mad man. The woman ran behind her enemy and noticed a large pile of snow. She climbed onto it and jumped off landing on Buffalos shoulders. She wrapped her arms around his neck tightening her grip on the plated protection. She gritted her teeth and pulled as hard as she could until she felt the armour piece rip off and she was flying in mid air. She was blinded by a flash of light as X charged his shot and hit him. A loud scream echoed across the empty ski-resort as he fell backwards onto his sculpture.

Silence filled the air as X walked towards his enemies' dead body. The woman followed his lead as they both bowed to pay their respects. Afterwards X knelt down on one knee and extracted his weapons chip.

"This should be useful." X said holding it up to his face before he put it into his blaster.

The woman retracted her buster weapon and smiled at X "My name is Jade." She reached out her arm to shake his hand. He returned the sentiment.

"Seems like you know who I am already." X smiled.

"You are a well known fellow" Jade smiled "I have been looking for you X and your friend Zero where is he?"

"He is working."

"I see maybe another time then."

"You said you were looking for me? Why? Who are you?"

"I can't say much right now. All I can tell you is that we want peace just as much as you do. I… We are doing the best we can in fighting our enemies, but I don't think we can fight them by ourselves much longer. We are asking for your help. You don't have to answer just yet. When the time comes that you gain my trust I will show you what you and I are fighting for…"

"Show me?" X asked baffled.

"There is one important thing. Don't tell anyone except for Zero that we talked. This is nothing to get your entire organization involved with. Make sure Zero doesn't say a word either! Promise I am trusting you…"

"I promise Jade."

"Until we meet again blue stranger…"


	3. Vengeance

Chapter 3: Vengeance

X spent the rest of the day destroying mavericks and taking down boss mechaniloids who had gone crazy from the virus. Zero did the same. By the time both hunters returned to base they were exhausted. They had destroyed a hefty number of mavericks using the various weapons they had obtained from previous mavericks.

X thought about the battle with Blizzard Buffalo and that mysterious girl named Jade he had met. 'Who is she? Who does she work for? Why is she looking for us? What is her motive? Should I tell Zero? What did she mean by show me what we were fighting for?' X thought to himself while walking down the hallway with Zero.

"You ok X? You look spaced out" Zero commented while looking over at him.

"Huh? Oh yeah sorry"

"Well quit it. I hate it when you're like this. You bore me." Zero snorted heading to his room.

"Zero… Wait… Come to my room for a second. I need to tell you something private."

"Ok."

X and Zero entered the room as X shut the door behind him.

"Now before I tell you this you have to promise not to tell anyone else." X whispered.

"Fine, I can keep a secret."

"Nobody understand?"

"What's your point X?" Zero said impatiently.

"I ran into a girl during my first mission. She was apparently looking for me and--"

"Awww X has a girlfriend!" Zero winked jokingly cutting his friend off in mid sentence.

"No! She was looking for the both of us; me and you. She wants us to help her with something important, but she won't say what. She wants to meet you, but she wants us to keep our meeting and everything a secret. Only the two of us can know about this ok?"

"This sounds suspicious to me. Are you sure she isn't a maverick?"

"She helped me in the battle against Blizzard Buffalo. I can't see her being a maverick. I trust her and I want her to trust me. Us too"

"I'll go along with it because you are X, but I'm not keeping my guard down."

"Ok, see you later."

"Later X."

The next day X and Zero split up again to look for the remaining mavericks throughout the city.

X had one final destination to go too. An old abandoned factory in the more rundown outskirts of town. He was told that a maverick was residing there, but the deeper he wandered inside the darker and more deserted it became. There was nothing more then rusty, beaten down assembly lines, computers, pipes and the like.

"I don't see any mavericks around here…"

X arrived at the back of the factory and found seemingly dormant ride armour. A click sound echoed around him as a laser blast shot through the air hitting his leg and making him fall onto his backside. Standing on a high window sill stood Vile, laughing manically as he jumped down into his ride armour.

"Hehehe you're trapped X!" Vile held a timer in his right hand "See this? It's set to blow this place up in minutes! Until then I'll keep you occupied."

"Vile… you bastard"

X rushed to his feet only to fall back down catching himself with his hands.

"Shit my leg!"

X stood up again this time putting all his weight on his good leg. He aimed his X-buster and shot random blasts at Viles armour carrier making small dents in the metal.

Vile shot back sending X flying onto one of the assembly line tables. He jumped landing in front of X. X shot at Viles head, but Vile dodged it gracefully. His machines giant mechanical arm grabbed X by the throat lifting him off the ground.

"Meet Goliath my newest weapon. He and I will defeat you! Vengeance is mine!" He sneered as he watched the painful expression on Xs face "Did you think you could get away with what you did to me? way back then… You'll pay… I'll send you to hell where you belong."

Vile raised X up to his level. He locked the settings on his ride armour and stood on the front ledge. He took his arm and started punching X in the stomach making him vomit and cough up blood. Xs face turned white as his airways compressed leaving less and less room for oxygen to flow. Vile kept punching and kicking him; beating his body like a punching bag. The room was starting to turn hazy when suddenly he heard someone yell.

"Vile that's enough!"

"Leave some for us!" A second voice responded.

"Go fuck yourselves! He's mine!" Vile snapped.

The reploid duo deactivated the bomb and proceeded towards Viles armour Goliath cutting the arm that was holding X off releasing him from the robots grip.

"What are you doing?!" Vile screamed angrily.

X fell to the ground gasping. He shook his head regaining his vision and aimed for Goliaths open wound using the Parasitic Bomb weapon. The armour carrier began to explode into a pile of fire and circuitry while the decapitated arm lay lifeless on the floor.

"We are the Nightmare Police! Bit and Byte! I am Bit" A short thin reploid announced with gold armour.

"And I am Byte! We keep order in this town under Doppler!" A tall chubby reploid continued with red and green armour.

"This reploid is ours to destroy!" Bit said.

"I don't think so! You'll never destroy him as long as I'm alive! I'll be back!" Vile stated looking in Xs direction before teleporting out of the factory.

The two reploids turned towards X smiling deviously.

"You're ours now Maverick Hunter. Prepare to die!" Bit grinned.

"That's right. Two against one is fair for someone with your battle record boy!" Byte joined in.

X used the Ray Splasher to stun his two enemies while he planned his next move. Byte fell to the ground, but bit jumped out of the way heading in Xs direction. X shot an Acid Burst upwards hitting Bit in the face. He grabbed his face screaming as the acid burned through his eyes.

Byte stood up and threw a mini-bomb at X. X pushing himself onto the floor rolled out of the way using his good leg. Bit, now blind, shot sprays of lasers all over the room hoping to hurt X wherever he was. X used the Triad Thunder to cancel out the laser blast and counter-attacked with the Gravity Well causing them both to collapse onto the floor under extreme force.

"Fuck I can't move!"

"Speak for yourself I can't see or move!"

X hopped towards them using his leg and arms. Once close enough he leaned over and stabbed them both in the head with the knives from his Spinning Blade attack.

Bit and Byte lay motionless on the floor as X used one last Parasitic Bomb to burn their corpses.

X teleported back to base. Zero was there to greet him. Zero ran over to X once he saw the condition he was in and called the on-site medics for immediate attention.

"How did your missions go?" X asked lying on a bed in the infirmary.

"Successful." Zero replied sitting beside him.

"Any more information on Doppler?"

"Dr. Cain thinks he may have found something, but he wants to wait a few days until you are well enough to fight again. So rest up and get better fast."

X laughed and closed his eyes drifting off to sleep. His last conscious thoughts focusing on when peace would finally come…


	4. Lab of Doppler

Chapter 4: Lab of Doppler

X healed from his injuries quickly during the next few days as the two Maverick Hunters gathered in the main control room to discuss their strategy. Dr. Cain gave them their briefing and confirmed that Dr. Doppler was the one behind the maverick outbreak and that he was creating some sort of battle body for a reploid. It didn't take them long to conclude that the new battle body was for Sigma and they had to stop him as soon as possible. They were both assigned to infiltrate the lab immediately.

Both men arrived at the closest teleport sight near Dopplers Lab weapons in hand ready for anything. A rustling in the trees nearby caused them to look upwards.

"Hi X!" Jade waved sitting on a tree branch.

"Jade, how are you?" X waved back.

"This isn't social time X. We're on a mission here." Zero reminded him.

"You must be Zero." Jade greeted climbing down from the tree.

"X told me about you. Your secret's safe with me. Now we have to get going."

"I've come to help you. I had a bad feeling about Doppler since the beginning. Now it seems my theory has been proven with this maverick outbreak. Let's go put a stop to this once and for all!" She took out her weapon and ran ahead of them towards the entrance of the lab while X and Zero ran after her.

The three ran through Dopplers Laboratory. The three comrades fighting alongside together made all the mavericks that crossed their path no match for them. Zero started to see a black figure in the distance. He squinted as it proceeded closer to him.

"A giant maverick is headed this way. Stay focused!" Zero warned.

The giant reploid stopped abruptly when they came into view. The large maverick could hover above ground, had two sabers, and long range arm cannons. Two volatile laughs came from the large machine.

"X, it's so nice to see you again. Don't you recognize us?"

"Bit and Byte but I thought I retired you back at the factory?"

"We don't go down that easily boy!" Byte said "We have merged into the ultimate fighting machine. Godkarmamachine O Inary!"

"This is pointless!" Zero shouted "We have to get Doppler. You two go on ahead I'll finish them off!"

"But Zero…" Jade stated with great concern.

"It's ok Jade. I can handle him. X and I are both top-Class Hunters. You and X will be fine!"

"Ok, be careful…"

"Good luck Zero."

X took Jades arm and ran past the mechaniliod towards the elevator. He hit the open button and they both jumped inside as the door closed.

"There are three floors here. I'll cover the second floor and look for hostages and any innocents. You take the third floor. Doppler should be waiting for you."

"But… will you be alright by yourself?" X asked with grave concern.

*Ding Floor 2*

"Yeah, don't worry about me." Jade responded giving him a thumbs up.

"…Good luck and please keep in touch with us."

"You have my word X. Give Doppler and Sigma good wallops for me!"

X smiled and nodded watching her depart for her floor 'I hope her and Zero will be ok…" X thought to himself staring at his feet.

*Ding Floor 3*

X held his buster cannon out staying alert for any surprise attacks. He cleared the area quickly until he heard a familiar laugh coming from the average, purple armored reploid ahead of him.

"Vile!"

"I told you I'd be back! And I have a new battle armour that will kick your ass harder then my other one did!"

Vile lunged at X with his battle armour. X jumped out of the way and threw a Parasitic Bomb towards Vile sitting up top of his machine. He dodged it, but the front of his machine was badly damaged.

X threw another parasitic bomb discretely rolling it onto the floor in Viles direction. Since Viles battle armour was so high X saw this as an advantage. The bomb exploded damaging the legs of his machine. Vile cursed and his machine fell forward onto the floor like a tree axed in a forest.

"M-my new battle carrier NO!!" Vile screamed. He lifted the functional arm of his battle armour and smashed a fist into the ground pinning X underneath it.

"Fuck you! I won't lose to you again!" Vile huffed pushing down on the control that pushed the arm down "You piece of scrap metal! No, you're lower than scrap metal! You are shit; pure, useless shit!!"

X could hardly move being pinned under a fist of that size. He slowly moved his X-buster to a direction that he could get a good hit of Vile in. He charged his buster aiming directly for Viles face. X shot and Vile flew backwards so fast that his hand flew back releasing the body carriers arm from crushing him. He shot out some Acid Bursts onto the shoulder blades of the machine causing its arms to become non-functional from circuitry damage.

Vile ran towards his machine trying everything to get one last attack out of it until it exploded with him inside.

"X, I'll haunt you until the day you die!"

X heard his intercom begin to beep as he answered it.

"X, it's me Jade. Can you hear me?"

"Yes, I hear you… wait, how did you get my intercom code?"

"Zero is with me. I'm using his check the ID number."

"Hi X. Bit and Byte are dead, so I decided to explore the second floor and found Jade. She had just defeated a bug like maverick, and this floor seems secured thanks to her."

"Are you ok X?" Jade asked.

"Yes, I'm fine. Vile returned and I defeated him."

"Good work." Zero commended "I am badly damaged from the rough fight with Bit and Byte so I'm going to head back to base for repairs. Jade found a few kidnapped humans being held here. I'll catch up with you in a bit. Find Sigma and Doppler. Give them hell X!"

"Roger that."

"X I'm going to take these people to a safe location away from here. I'll meet you outside the base after you defeat Doppler and Sigma. Keep your guard up!"

"I will. See you both later." X nodded turning off his intercom.

X continued searching the lab to look for Dr. Doppler. He finally found him. He had weapons of his own and was prepared to fight X and win.

"I have been expecting you. You could be a great asset to my army, so I will offer you this one chance to join me. What do you say X?"

"Never will I join you! Your schemes end here and now!"

"What a shame. I guess I'll just have to retire you and make you a part of Sigmas battle body. Too bad you won't see my glorious world filled with reploids serving Sigma!"

Doppler threw off his lab coat and revealed his armour and aimed his weaponry. X and Doppler battled viciously until X delivered the final blow sending Doppler crashing to the ground in exhaustion.

"You are strong X. I know you can defeat Sigma…"

"Doc can you talk…?"

"Yes… Sigma… the former leader of Maverick Hunter who has led the past two maverick wars… You have only seen him disguised in wolfs clothing…"

"What do you mean?"

"…His true form is that of a virus… He corrupted me and possessed all of the mavericks here… He used me to build him a new physical battle body for him to use…"

"Where is he now?"

"There is a secret underground hanger in this building… You can get there by taking the elevator to the main floor and destroying the back wall of the elevator… You'll find stairs leading to where I hid his body… I don't think he has synchronized with it yet… please… destroy it before it's too late…" Doppler breathed heavily feeling the pain of his wounds from the battle.

"Doctor, will you be ok here?"

"Yes, now go hurry!"

"Thanks doc…"

X made his way to the underground hanger and found the room where Sigmas battle body was stored.

Suddenly his intercom started to beep again.

"X can you talk now…?"

"For a moment Zero I'm in the underground hanger where Doppler has stored Sigmas battle body. Doppler is ok. I fought him and he has been freed from Sigmas control. Sigmas original form is a virus."

"I see. My repairs are finished, so I'm heading back to where you are to help."

"Ok, find Doppler. He should still be in his lab on the third floor. Get him to safety then meet me underground here."

"Ok X I will do that. Good luck."

"Thanks."

X entered the final chamber. He saw the battle body. He jumped when he saw it starting to move.

"Welcome X… It's been awhile!"

"Sigma…!"

"It was so easy to corrupt that old fool Doppler and I would have corrupted him entirely if not for your interference, but it's destiny for us to fight don't you agree? Let the eternal struggle begin!!"

X and Sigma fired their weapons with the best precision, power, and accuracy. The fire in their eyes burning with intensity as the blood spilled from both men as they blew each other away.

X delivered the final shot with a charged shot through the chest causing his battle body to collapse into pieces.

"No! My magnificent battle body! It can't be! You bastard! This isn't over yet…" Sigma growled as the room began to collapse "If I can't kill your physical form then I will possess your spirit!"

Sigma began to rise out of his battle body in the form of a holographic image; his true form of a virus. X shot blasts, but they all went through him causing no damage.

"He's like a ghost! I have to get out of here before this place caves in!" X ran towards the stairway heading to the main floor, but it had caved in already leaving him trapped with Sigma right behind him.

"Shit! It's a dead end!"

A green light appeared behind X and the entrance was cleared. Dr. Doppler ran past X and lunged towards Sigma. Zero behind him stood by his partners' side and watched.

"Shit! Doppler! What are you doing to me??"

"How do you like that Sigma? It's my special vaccine; the anti-virus for the Sigma Virus! X I'm sorry… for everything I have done… I know that I can never atone for my sins, but I can at least make things right by taking Sigma with me!"

"I-I'm fading!!! No!"

"Goodbye X, Zero…"

The room began to explode as the room in front of them began to collapse.

"X we have to leave now!"

X ran with Zero. As he did so he looked back at the sight of Dr. Doppler and Sigma being buried under the rubble.

Outside he watched as the lab of Doppler exploded in flames…


	5. Paradise

Chapter 5: Paradise

X, Zero, and Jade all stood atop of the cliff overlooking the lab of Doppler. They all watched as it exploded and collapsed to the ground taking with it countless reploids and humans who had served under Dr. Doppler.

The three warriors watched in silence as they took in what had happened and their surroundings. Zero looked at the rubble that was once his battlefield with a sense of pride and accomplishment 'Another mission accomplished.' He nodded.

Jade eyed the wreckage in front of her. An expression of relief swept across her face as she closed her eyes in deep contemplation 'We did the best we could… Thank goodness there were at least a few innocent survivors… We did the right thing, I hope…'

X stared at the destruction beneath him, an expression of sadness and sorrow on his face. He looked down at his feet and sighed quietly to himself 'How much longer? How much longer must we sacrifice innocent lives? All the casualties, the fighting, the carnage… Will it ever end for good?'

Jade turned away from the burning lab and walked towards the teleportation point. X and Zero turned to face her and slowly walked after her.

"Hey, thanks for helping us back there. You made our job go faster."

"Yes, thank you Jade." X nodded.

Jade paused for a moment not bothering to answer or face them "I suppose I have some explaining to do…" she smirked letting out a small giggle.

X and Zero stared at each other then back at her puzzled.

"I know I can trust you, I have always known, but I had to see it for myself… Our own survival depends on it…" She said closing her eyes.

"You keep saying we… who's we…?" X asked questioningly.

"Where do I begin?" She whispered under her breath.

"From the beginning would be nice!" Zero cut in impatiently.

"Is your friend always a smart-ass X?" Jade winked.

"Yeah, try to throw a few back at him, but it also helps to ignore it if you can. That's what I do." X smiled.

"I'll keep that in mind." Jade smiled back.

Zero pouted and tapped his foot disapprovingly "Whatever. Continue."

"X, do you remember our battle with Blizzard Buffalo?"

"Yeah"

"Do you remember what I told you?"

"I think so… About you showing me what we are fighting for… What did you mean by that?"

"Good memory… X, Zero I know I can trust you. We are all here for the same thing, for the sole purpose of protecting both humans and reploids alike. No matter what happens please believe in me and I will believe in you…"

Zeros face softened as X nodded in contentment. Jade continued her explanation.

"Zero, I know you thought of me as a maverick and I applaud you for that. You're always alert and ready for anything. X, thank you for trusting me even though I've left you in the dark for so long. You are a good man. Now I'd like to tell you about myself, but I think it's better if I show you first. Follow me…"

Jade motioned for X and Zero to follow her as she veered left of the teleportation point back to MHHQ. She stopped and put her finger up to her chin "On second thought if you want you can go back to Maverick Hunter Base first if you need to. It's a bit of a long trip."

"Nah we're good. Lead the way." Zero spoke up walking in Jades direction, X following suit.

"Ok then. Let's get going. I'm sorry, but there is no teleportation point that is close by so we'll have to walk it."

As they walked outside of the city Jade tapped her headset "The Doppler crisis has been solved. X and Zero are with me and we are heading back to base."

"Roger." The navigator answered "Safe journey to you all"

"Thanks"

They journeyed far through: Mettool Town, Mechatropolis, Tron City, Rush Forest, the little rural village of Beat where they were well known for their various species of birds, and Netto village until they arrived at the Yashichi Mountains.

"We're here at last!" Jade sighed in relief "I hate this long trip!"

"I don't see anything…" X responded looking confused.

"Yeah, where are we?" Zero asked also confused.

"We are at the Yashichi Mountains to the far north. Far from your base wouldn't you say?" Jade held up her headset "We're here please let us in."

"Ok 3, 2, 1… open."

A loud machine came on as the front of the closest mountain began to turn fuzzy like a television screen. A large mechanical door appeared as it began to slowly open to a dark tunnel.

Zero, X and Jade went inside as the door closed behind them. They walked down the tunnel leading to another doorway. Jade typed in the door code as the last door opened revealing a large building with high ceilings, staircases, and people. She took off her headset and let down her long blonde hair.

"Welcome to my home X and Zero!" She announced proudly "Make your selves comfortable. You're safe here."

X looked around in pure astonishment at the sight of the place. Zero put his hand up to his eyes as he found the lights too bright for his eyes. Once he focused he too looked amazed at what he was seeing.

"First let's go to the Command Room where we can talk in private."

X and Zero followed her through the large open hall overlooking all the above floors. They entered another large room which had a large table in the center. The table was covered in different maps and papers much like their briefing room in Maverick Hunter Base. Surrounding the table were chairs and several monitors. Some were empty, and others were occupied by different people who seemed to wear similar headsets to Jades pair. Off to the side was a more cozy looking room with comfy chairs and a long table much like an office.

Jade walked towards a woman who was sitting in the end chair closest to the office room.

"Hi, we're here."

"Jade welcome back" The girl greeted standing up from her chair. The girl had shoulder length red hair, Caucasian complexion with green eyes and average figure. She wore a dark green outfit with black pants and white boots. Her green outfit consisted of a one piece skirt and shirt with slits up the sides. Shoulder pads on the shoulders and on the top right breast section of the shirt had a golden symbol of a sun on the front.

"This is X and this is Zero."

"Hi there, my name is Kate." The woman introduced shaking X and Zeros hands "I live here with Jade and the others. I am her navigator among other things…" She winked at Jade and giggled. X and Zero just looked at each other confused.

"Navigator…?" Zero asked.

"Yes. How about we go into the small office here and we can talk privately? We shouldn't disturb the other navigators working around here." Kate signaled for them to follow her into the small room.

"Take a seat anywhere you like." Jade said plopping onto the chair at the head of the long table. Kate sat beside her and folded her hands on the table.

"Now, to answer your question Zero a navigator is someone who assists the fighter in battle. You can watch as your hunter performs their mission and guide them through it in other words. You can guide them by analyzing enemies for weak spots using your computer, analyzing energy readings, advising your fighter of upcoming dangers, different routes in an area etc. Do you not use them in Maverick Hunter? I'm surprised. It makes things so much easier from what I've been told right Jade?"

"Yes it does."

X looked with intrigue at Zero "Hey we should recommend that to Dr. Cain. Maybe when we get more recruits we can train a few?"

"Good idea X. Keep that in mind." Zero nodded.

"So… What is this place?" X asked staring at the two girls across from him.

"This is a shelter for reploids and humans to live." Jade explained.

"A shelter…?" X asked in awe.

"Yes, a place where humans and reploids can live together in peace. The outside world is a very cruel place… So we provide refuge for all kinds of people. Originally we started as a homeless shelter for both humans and reploids who had no place to go, but since then we have grown to serve all kinds of different individuals."

"Different people…?" Zero asked.

"Yeah, we provide a safe haven for reploids and humans who have lived on the streets, victims of abuse, reploids who had to flee from creators who still believe in robot slavery, reploids wrongly accused of being mavericks, humans and reploids who work in public service agencies who feel that their work has become corrupt and don't agree with working there anymore for moral reasons and others, even reploids and humans who simply believe in our cause for equality and peace. We welcome all types of people with all different types of experiences and occupations." Kate smiled.

"But we do have rules put in place here. We have conditions we expect followed or else you're given the boot!" Jade said sitting back arms crossed "We expect the people here to be respectful of each other regardless human or reploid. We expect everyone to help out here and look out for others. We expect tolerance of others and no force of any kind towards anyone. We are all equal here human and machine."

"Have you ever had mavericks come here or people who have betrayed you? What then?" Zero questioned.

"We have. We are always on alert for when and if the maverick virus takes over someone. In that case we make them leave just like if someone broke our rules. We don't believe in killing them. We just send them away and if they start harming people then we leave organizations like Maverick Hunter to take care of it or we send Jade to watch them for a bit and if they start harming people while she spies then we take care of it ourselves. We are a non-violent shelter first and foremost."

"So, you just keep everyone here prisoner in this place?" Zero questioned continuing his interrogation.

"No, anyone can leave whenever they want. We trust that they will keep us a secret. I'm sure people have blabbed, but luckily no one has come looking for us… yet. I hope that our whereabouts are not leaked to mavericks like Sigma or Vile. That could become dangerous."

"That's why you made me promise…" X realized.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you when we met X, but I had to make sure it was safe. Please understand."

"What do you both do here?" Zero asked.

"I have many different jobs around here. I am a navigator obviously, but I also keep our Mission Statement and rules up to date and posted around the base. I also perform computer maintenance, interviews of newcomers, and potential staff, and try to keep the general atmosphere running smoothly."

"I am our bases main defense officer. I enforce the rules and judge what needs to be done about any trouble maker. I also scout areas around the base to protect us from small scale maverick attacks; sadly we do not have the resources for a large defense unit. We can't help much when it comes to the war effort I'm afraid…"

"I see. What kinds of resources do you have? How do you support yourselves?"

"Zero stop being nosy!" X snapped.

"No, it's ok. We have nothing to hide from either of you." Kate reassured them "How we get our resources has changed over time… In the beginning when we were barely on our feet and we didn't have many people living here, I regret to say we had to steal from rival maverick organizations and the homes that some of the people were either thrown out of or abused in. They stole from their families to support us. As the years went by and we expanded we had to move to a safer location. One where the mavericks and anti-reploid right organizations wouldn't find us, so we fled here to the Yoshichi Mountains… Because of years of global warming the mountain we are in now was largely cracked and the rocks had been heavily eroded. That gave us an advantage and we all worked hard to build our home here. Anyway once our home was built, back then it wasn't as nice as it is now, we scouted the land around us looking for natural resources to use. We sent members out on scouting missions to locate resources for us to use. We found a large bed of water behind our mountain range, along with high wind velocities on the tops of the mountains, and the constant teamwork of everyone here we have managed to use the wind and water as our main energy and hydro supply. We do our best when it comes to food. We purchase large amounts of food by sending large sums of our members undercover as well we use the connections of our members who know people who run farms around the area. Since food is still limited we sadly have to put humans at priority since reploids can last longer without food and liquids, but we are trying our best to fix this problem." Kate responded.

"You wear armour I notice Jade… Where did you get it from?" Zero inquired curiously.

"The mavericks I've had to kill wore armour, so after they died I would carry their corpses back to here, scrape out their innards, and clean the inside. After that I would take it to our technician members and they would fix up the weapons and features, so that I could still make use of them. This way I can always have a fresh selection of armour and weapons on hand."

"Can't you just modify your systems for that?" X asked.

"What do you mean?" Jade asked looking puzzled "I'm not a reploid X…"

"You're not…?" X looked in total shock.

"No… I'm a human and so is Kate…"

"Oh…" X looked downwards almost disappointed in hearing this news. Zero put his hand on Xs shoulder. He soon looked up and decided to change the subject "How do you guys stay hidden? How have you managed for so long?"

"Thanks to our computer specialists and technicians we have been able to stay hidden easier because of the holographic programs like the one you saw when entering here. It's a real weight off our shoulders." Jade replied.

Kate yawned and stretched in her chair. Jade looked at her warmly while putting her hand on her partners shoulder "Getting tired? It's been a long day hasn't it?"

X and Zero looked outside to see that it had become dark since the many hours prior they had arrived.

"We should be heading back to too. We still need to report our mission from the Doppler Lab." Zero said standing up from his seat "X let's go home and rest for the night."

"Ok Zero. We should come back tomorrow. I'm still interested in this place and have lots more questions to ask."

"Sure. Now, let me call a few of our members to escort you guys home." Jade offered walking towards one of the navigational computers.

X took one last look at the base before he walked out the door and headed for Maverick Hunter Headquarters. He still couldn't believe what he had seen.

'Maybe there is hope after all…'


	6. Decision

Chapter 6: Decision

The two Maverick Hunters returned to the shelter in the Yashichi mountains bright and early. Jade and Kate opened the door to let them in. The two girls guided them through the building giving them the grand tour they had missed the previous day.

The shelter was not much for decoration. The walls were all metal and the lights seemed bright because of it, but the space that was available for rooms and operations along with the many people living inside more than made up for it in Xs mind.

They entered the small office room where they were talking the other day. Jade walked to the back of the room towards the window and turned to face the rest of the group "There! We have finished the tour. What do you think?"

"It's ok." Zero answered.

"It's very nice. I can tell you guys have been putting a lot of work into this place." X smiled.

"We try… Thank you." Kate said returning the smile.

"What made you start this place?" X questioned.

"Yeah, there is a belief in something and then there is doing something about it." Zero chimed in.

"Well, it was a group effort actually, but I couldn't have done it without my gal Jade here…"

Jade blushed a crimson red "Hah how odd. It was you who inspired me to do it in the first place… I mean I was just a street kid back then…"

"I'm afraid we can't answer this question without explaining the story of how we met…" Kate explained.

"Yeah, so Zero you might wanna grab your barf bag because this will get sappy." Jade warned jokingly.

"No worries." Zero replied in a nonchalant tone of voice "I couldn't care less about the icky love stuff! Not for me thanks."

Kate and Jade both smiled at each other rolling their eyes at him.

"I was born and raised in a family that was very sheltered towards new concepts. They feared anything different from them and they weren't prepared to even try and understand any of it, but such is life and I could live with that growing up. Once I became a teenager things began to change. I noticed that instead of just talking discriminately they began to take action too. My parents voted for hardcore conservative parties, joined social gatherings that were only for people like them, and they even became active members of numerous anti-rights movements, the Anti-Reploid Rights Movement, ARRM included. Suddenly they started disowning family members who fell into these categories. Because of this I decided to hide my sexual orientation. I wasn't ready for them to discard me, which I knew they would do… I fell for this girl at school and we started dating secretly, somehow my parents found out and in short they made me break up with her. They kicked me out of the house a month later and I lived on the streets for a year hiding from the police. I was 16 at the time… Through connections I met an acquaintance of Kate who happened to introduce us. We got to know each other and we fell in love. We both feel strongly about equal rights for all living things whether it is sentient machines or humans…"

"I could sympathize with her coming from a similar background. Even so my family wouldn't abandon me for my beliefs. A year later word on the street had spread about a possible upcoming war between humans and reploids. Since we had several friends who were a mixture of human and reploid we noticed the change in how reploids were being treated in society. Society has yet to accept reploids in it, but the treatment was worsening to the point where some of our friends feared for their lives because of organizations that were forming like the ARRM. Jade and I felt we didn't have anything to lose, so we located an abandoned factory in B-Block of Able City. Originally it was only a handful of us living together, trying to survive, to make a home for ourselves."

"Our friends spread the word to their friends who were experiencing the same things we were. Either homeless people looking for refuge or reploids who were looking to flee from society's injustice… You guys know the rest…"

"What a sad story…" X spoke looking down at his lap.

"Makes you think that infected reploids aren't the only mavericks in the world…" Zero added.

"This is why we were looking for you X and Zero. We can't hold off the ARRM much longer. They are getting stronger and more persistent with destroying the reploid race and those who create and serve them. I'm afraid they will try and attack us soon. If that happens we can't fight by ourselves. Jade is the strongest defense soldier we have and she can't go against all those people alone. I hate to think about what would happen to the people here if we were attacked. If that happens will you please help us?" Kate asked squeezing her hands together in her lap.

"I will help you." X agreed.

A look of determination formed across his face. Zero could tell X was passionate about their cause and that he could feel their struggles. He knew that he couldn't let them be sitting ducks, especially while in the midst of the maverick wars. They had fought too hard and too long to be destroyed now. Zero knew he had to help them as well.

"Ok. I will help also." Zero nodded in confirmation.

"Thank you so much!" Kate beamed looking overjoyed.

"Yes, thank you. I know we are safe in your hands. I will do my best to keep this shelter safe while you're gone." Jade promised "I'll lend my help on your missions as well. Let's work together for the future of humans and reploids!"


	7. Iris

Chapter 7: Iris

Time passed and seasons changed. Spring turned to summer, summer turned to fall, fall turned to winter. The flakes began to fall and the trees became as bare and cold as the asphalt beneath the snow. Maverick Hunter Headquarters was no exception to this either. After the Doppler Incident and the high reploid casualties, Maverick Hunter was having an increasingly harder time finding new recruits. This worried Dr. Cain due to the gradual rise of new mavericks within nearby cities. After all X and Zero could only handle so many missions in a day and it seemed MHHQs efforts were not enough to keep the threat at bay any longer.

After almost a year of Dr. Cain fretting over what to do to protect the world, he suddenly had a stroke of genius. He decided to work endlessly right then and there to create a new organization of reploids to help Maverick Hunter HQ in their struggles for peace 'I will call this new military association Repliforce!'

Three Months later the snow began to melt and the leaves and grass started to flourish. Nature was ready for its annual rebirth, celebrating with it the birth of Repliforce. The world seemed ready for a new attempt at restoring order to the surrounding cities.

Back at HQ X and Zero were relaxing in Zeros room watching a movie on his bed.

"This movie blows!" Zero pouted crossing his legs on the bed.

"Yeah it does. Sorry bad choice on my part. To bad Jade and Kate aren't here they have good taste in movies I think."

"Sometimes, but that's why you let me pick the movies X, and you buy them!"

"How is that fair Zero?!" X snapped.

"Because it's not my money… That's how." Zero smirked jumping off the bed "Shut it off and let's go do something else."

"Like what?"

*Emergency! Maverick Hunters X and Zero please report to the Command Room for mission orders*

"That answers your question X!" Zero smirked shrugging his shoulders and walking away.

"Let's go see what's up Zero." X said following behind his best friend.

"Hey X I wonder if it's to announce when our meeting with the new Repliforce will be…?"

"Maybe, we'll see won't we?"

X and Zero entered the Command Room meeting Dr. Cain who looked very serious.

"X, Zero I have missions for you both" Dr. Cain ordered "X I want you to go investigate a maverick sighting at point-D. The maverick seems to be acting alone. Maybe it's looking for remnants of Sigma or Doppler. Either way check it out right away. Any information you can dig up is vital. We need to find out what those mavericks are up too!"

"Yes sir!" X saluted teleporting out of the room.

"Zero, you will need to make use of your excellent strategic and stealth abilities for this mission. I want you to investigate Point-B-06-R63 in Mettool Town. It's a tall glass building used for different business locations. I want you to go to the top floor which is floor 6 and gather information from the gathering of people in room 63. It sounds trivial, but my sources tell me that the group of people who are meeting there are planning something big. Find out what it is and retrieve as much information as you can. This could be useful… Good luck and report back as soon as you can."

"You can count on me Dr. Cain!" Zero saluted teleporting to the closest destination to the glass building.

"I guess I'll have to walk it a bit… It's so crowded here." Zero looked around tracing his coordinates.

"What kinds of people have a secret meeting in the middle of the day??" Zero criticized as he walked around minding his own business "Oh here it is."

Zero found the tall glass building. He looked up, wondering what the best way to reach the top floor was. He finally decided to climb up the exterior walls behind the building. It was a secluded area where few people ever walked in.

He reached the top floor of the building quickly with no sign of being detected.

'Now where is room 63?' He thought speedily tip-toeing past the windows. Straight ahead he noticed a window that was open. He heard a voice coming from inside the room. Sneaking quietly towards the window Zero maneuvered himself the closest he could get before sitting down and putting his ear towards the sounds coming from inside.

"Excuse me is this room 63?" A woman asked.

"Yes, are you here for the meeting?" A deep male voice questioned.

"Yes."

"Please take a seat."

A man with a higher pitched voice spoke next.

"It looks like we are all here now, so let's begin shall we? My name is Aaron Dyson and this is my wife Ilean. I thank you all for coming today. This is my first official meeting as your new leader. I would like to start off by saying that this is a crucial time for us, the ARRM. Three maverick wars have taken place so far causing much of our goals to be accomplished for us. An insurmountable number of reploids have been destroyed already because of the wars. More and more humans are becoming fearful and turning against reploids giving us the full advantage of swaying people towards our cause. We all have our reasons for being here today, whether it's out of fear for our loved ones, the safety of our world, or moral duty. God did not intend for robots to run free! We are humans created by God to control machines. Sin has taken control of the world by letting the sinners do whatever they want! We humans were here first! Reploids are immoral, destructive beings and we have the divine right to take our world back! Now that the world has seen first hand the dangers of letting machines run around with free will our mission should become a reality very soon. I promise."

Clapping echoed throughout the room as Zero continued listening intently outside.

Aaron continued his speech… "Now is the time to take action! To save the world from more wars and destruction! We can't afford to waste anymore time or else the world might be annihilated. Any longer and we humans as a race may cease to exist because extremist reploids like that Sigma will have wiped us out! We can't let this happen to us! We need to put our plans into affect immediately! Who's with me?!"

The room began to cheer loudly as Zero could only assume that all the hands went up in agreement.

A woman spoke up over the cheering "Sir, what is the plan? What can we do to set it in motion?"

"A crucial part of our plan is to find where a large number of the reploids are hiding. There have been reports of reploids disappearing and escaping society somehow… It would be a big help if we could find out where they have run off too. Once we find the hiding spot we will attack. There have been rumours going around of a shelter far away that is housing reploids and humans. We must retire those reploids and kill the humans who are helping them!"

"But, aren't we supposed to be protecting the human race?" The girl asked.

"Yes, but those humans lost the right to live when they betrayed the human race by deciding to help those despicable machines! For now our main objective is to find the shelter where the reploids are staying. Any questions or comments before we wrap up here?"

The room became silent for several minutes before Aaron spoke again… "Ok. This concludes our meeting for today. The next meeting will be posted via e-mail so keep an eye on your inboxes this week. Thank you and goodbye."

Zero heard the pushing of chairs and footsteps towards the doorway. Zero lay his head back on the cold cement wall and closed his eyes 'The ARRM… That is the same group Jade and Kate warned us about… I have to report this and warn the shelter right away!'

He climbed down from the building and ran for the teleportation point back to HQ. As he ran towards his destination he noticed that the crowd had died down considerably. It was almost too eerily quiet and Zero could sense this.

*Crash!!!*

Zero balanced himself as the ground shook 'What was that?' He scanned the area around him and saw nothing. Suddenly he heard a girl scream. He ran to where he heard the noise and came face to face with a gigantic robo-dragon.

The dragon was green and carried several laser blasters all over the front of his body as well as a giant powerful one inside his mouth. He had giant metal wings on his back that enabled him to fly and dodge attacks easily. The dragon glanced at him and then turned back to his pray in front of him.

Zero looked to where the dragon was focusing his attention on. It was a female reploid who was trapped against the dragon and the wall. She had long, dark brown hair, blue eyes, with a pale complexion. She wore a blue and red kimono type shirt with a knee length red, blue, and gold skirt with red boots. She looked innocent and frightened as she coward towards the wall she was up against.

"Don't move!" Zero yelled "Stay perfectly still!"

The girl looked at him with desperation in her eyes "Please help me!!"

"Don't worry miss I'll take him down!" Zero drew his beam saber and charged for the dragon.

The dragon ignored his victim and watched Zero prepare to attack. The dragon shot a stream of lasers at him hitting Zero and knocking him down. He quickly got up and jumped towards the dragons' chest holding his Z-Saber upwards for a downward slice. His blade punctured the dragons' chest destroying most of his mini-laser weapons. All that was left was the weapon in his mouth.

'All I have to do is cut off the energy to his final weapon… Maybe decapitating him would work!" Zero thought sharply.

As Zero was fighting the woman watched in amazement 'He's a good fighter… Who… Is… He…?'

Zero ran towards the dragon again aiming for the right spot to jump for his final attack, but the dragon had a plan of his own. The maverick reached out its arms as Zero jumped catching Zero in his grip. Right away the dragon charged a deadly plasma beam from inside his mouth. Zero writhed in the mechaniloids grip trying to get free, but it was no use.

'Shit I'm trapped! But I planned it perfectly! How could I…?'

*Swooosh!!!*

A flash of light appeared before him as a straight line formed under the dragons' neck making his head slide off the body seamlessly. No mess made.

"Are you alright?" A deep voice called out.

"Yeah, thanks for saving me… Um, I guess I owe you one… Hah this is new for me… I don't usually make mistakes in battle…"

"Well it happens to the best of us." The man commented.

He climbed over the dragons' corpse and stood by Zero. The male reploid had a black army hat and red chin guard. He wore a long white robe, black boots, and carried a purple sword similar to Zeros Z-saber.

"Who are you…?" Zero asked defensively.

"My name is Colonel. I work for the Repliforce. And you are?"

"I'm Zero, commander of the #0 Unit at Maverick Hunter."

"Ah yes Maverick Hunter. We are scheduled to meet with you tomorrow evening. By the way what are you doing here in these parts?"

"I was sent on a Reconnaissance Mission. On my way back to base this maverick started attacking here. There was a girl who was captured by the maverick she's right over… wait… huh? Where did she go?"

"She ran to safety I assume."

"I'd better head back… Thanks again. I'm still a little embarrassed haha! I'll see you tomorrow at the introductory briefing."

"Until then Zero"

"Bye Colonel."

The next day Zero and X were not scheduled any lengthily missions because of the meeting with Repliforce that evening. They reported their past missions and called Jade on the intercom. Zero explained the findings that he had discovered on his mission in Mettool Town.

"Because of what I heard at the office building I would suggest you start major preparations for the attack immediately. It doesn't sound like they are going to wait much longer." Zero cautioned.

"Yes, we will do that right away. Thank you Zero. How lucky that you were sent on that mission by your base. Do they know anything else?"

"I asked them and from what they explained to me they don't know a lot. Many things are only assumptions on their part. I didn't reveal you don't worry." Zero assured.

"Good. I hope we can put a stop to this before Maverick Hunter becomes too heavily involved. Your institution is well known and if word were to leak to your officials then it could leak to Sigma and then we'd have two major attacks on our hands instead of one." Jade warned.

"You're right. We have to try and distract the ARRM somehow…" X suggested "But how?" He asked rubbing his chin.

*All Hunters please report to the assembly hall for an important meeting right away. Thank you*

"It's time to meet Repliforce!" X stated eagerly "I hope this takes some of the pressure off of us."

"Me too" Zero nodded.

"Good evening ladies and gentleman! I would like to announce the newest association to assist us in our battle for peace against the mavericks! Let me introduce to you the Repliforce!" The announcer cheered walking away from the microphone.

Everyone clapped as the main members of Repliforce appeared on stage.

The first reploid was a giant golden reploid with a gray face and white mustache. He looked as gigantic as the dragon that Zero had fought the other day.

"I am General, General of the Repliforce. I thank you for welcoming us to help in the fight for peace and equality. Thank you." The general hovered off the stage as the next representative took the stage.

"I am Colonel, Colonel of the Repliforce. I am second in command next to the General. I look forward to working with all of you in the fight against the mavericks and the protection of our human creators. Thank you." Colonel walked off stage and the next person walked on stage.

Zero couldn't believe his eyes when he saw who it was "T-that's the girl I saved yesterday! What is she doing here??" Zero stared gawk eyed with his mouth open as the woman began to say her speech.

"Hello, my name is Iris. I command the negotiations sector of the Repliforce however I am of equal rank to my brother Colonel. I hope to maintain the cooperation of both our base and yours and I will perform different duties such as navigation etc. to keep the communication between us in tact. I look forward to meeting all of you and getting to know you all better. Thank you." Iris smiled skipping off the stage.

After the rest of the units introduced themselves everyone was dismissed from the assembly hall. Zero sauntered down the hallway as X ran ahead to go contact Jade back.

"Zero" A voice called from behind him "Nice to see you again."

"Colonel"

"I wanted to thank you personally for saving my sister the other day. She recognized you and told me about you fighting the dragon to protect her."

Iris exited the assembly hall and stood by her brother joining in the conversation. She smiled at Zero and began to blush a light pink "Zero, so that's your name… Thank you for saving me. I'm sorry I didn't stick around yesterday, but I was so scared that I just ran away."

"Understandable" Zero smiled "Umm… Will you be visiting long?"

"No, I have to head back to base now, but my brother and I would like to take you out to dinner as a thank you for saving me."

Colonel nodded in compliance "Yes, that and I would like an excuse to battle you at full strength. I've seen your record and I see you being a worthy opponent."

"No brother! I told you not too remember?!" Iris glared putting her hands on her hips "There is no need for you two to fight! I want us all to be friends! If not then I at least want Zero and I to become close friends…" She looked down putting her hands behind her back at that random comment.

"Ok. I should get back to work. I wasn't finished filing a report before the meeting." Zero shrugged walking away from them.

"Work, work, work that's all you boys ever think about! Jeez!" Iris groaned, waving her hand at them and walking away.

"Iris wait I'll call you Zero."

"Later Colonel" Zero waved walking down the hallway where X was presumably talking to the shelter members.

'Iris huh…? Hmmm…'


	8. Sky Lagoon

Chapter 8: Sky Lagoon

Six months have passed since the assembly introducing the Repliforce army took place. Maverick Hunter and Repliforce worked side by side often and made an effective team.

Zero and X visited the shelter often to check up on everyone there. So far no attacks had been made by the ARRM.

'What is taking them?' Zero wondered 'Six months ago I over-heard them saying infiltration would be soon… Did they change their minds? I don't understand… Something's not right…'

X visited more often then Zero. X had made a few friendships with some of the shelter members whereas Zero had more connections to the Repliforce members, specifically Colonel and Iris.

Iris had performed several field navigation jobs at Maverick Hunter, so she was there often. That gave her lots of time to hang around with Zero one on one. Iris had become very fond of Zero over the past few months and everyone could tell she was into him. Zero, of course, hardly noticed and remained oblivious. He simply enjoyed the time he spent with her.

"Zero… Are you alright? You haven't been looking well lately. Are you sick?"

"No Iris, I'm ok… I just haven't been sleeping well and that interferes with recharging properly…"

"Have you talked to Dr. Cain or X about this?"

"No, it'll pass…"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, Iris. Don't worry."

Iris nodded and left for home. Zero watched her leave, but his mind was elsewhere. His few hours of sleep per night were haunted by nightmares. Nightmares meaning what, he had no idea. All he knew were the images that stuck out in his mind: the mysterious man claiming to be his creator, the pain in his head, the sound of Sigma screaming in fear, the dead bodies all over the floor, and the fresh blood dripping from his hands. Somehow he knew it was him who had done this… The evidence was clear in front of him, but he had no recollection of this.

'What could that dream mean and how can I go about finding out…? Maybe I should--' Zeros thoughts were rudely interrupted by a shove to his backside.

"Shit! Sorry sir!" A chubby male reploid professed making a nervous chuckle "I, uh, wasn't watching where I was going."

"Then I suggest you watch next time rookie… wait… I haven't seen you around here before… What's your name?"

"Double" The reploid gulped "I just transferred here… Um, I'm lost. Can you show me where the command room is?"

"Sure, I'm heading to my room, but the command room isn't too far out of my way."

"Thank you very much" Double smiled putting his right arm behind his head "What is your name?"

"Zero"

"Nice to meet you Zero"

"Do you know where you have been assigned too yet?"

"Umm… I was told I will be working alongside a fellow named… X I think it is."

"I see, so you will be working with Unit #17."

"Really…? Thanks for clearing that up."

"The command room is at the end of the hallway to your right you can't miss it."

"Thanks again. I hope to see you around Zero."

"Later Double. Good luck." Zero proceeded back towards the barracks where his room was "Whatever… Sleep mode time."

Before he knew it morning came and the alarm sounded calling all available hunters to the command room. Zero and X received the emergency transmission to rush to the Sky Lagoon, an airborne military base used for secret operations. Mavericks were attacking and trying to make it crash into the city below.

X and Zero teleported to the Sky Lagoon clearing out the mavericks and rushing through the destruction. Once they arrived at the control room they ran into one of their comrades, Magma Dragoon who was the leader of unit #14.

"Dragoon what are you doing here?" Zero asked.

"This isn't good guys. A giant maverick just destroyed the main power generator and took off."

"No! Then the Sky Lagoon will come crashing down into the city below! All those people will be…" X paused gasping at the thought of all the casualties.

"I'm outta here I suggest you both do the same. Don't do anything reckless on the way out ok?"

X and Zero nodded in unison as Dragoon escaped.

"Zero… all those innocent lives… this isn't good!"

"I know, let's search the city below."

Zero and X left for the city. When they got there X clenched his fist at the wreckage. The city was in ruins and covered in flames.

"I'll go search for any survivors. Zero go find the maverick who did this. He might still be here somewhere."

"I agree. I'm on it. Good luck X."

X ran ahead as Zero began his investigation. He wiped out several of the weaker mavericks in the area until he found Iris lying on the ground. It looked like she had been attacked by something as she was covered in dirt and had minor damages.

"Iris what are you doing here?"

"Zero… Did you come to save me?"

"Yes, hang on."

"Zero… this giant maverick appeared it looked like…"

"Stay here Iris I'll take care of it!"

Zero carried Iris to a safe location nearby and continued his search for the maverick. It didn't take him long due to the maverick finding him first.

"Zero…" The maverick spoke venomously "Do you remember me?"

"You're that dragon from Mettool Town, but… Colonel…"

"I am Eregion. A mysterious reploid was gracious enough to repair my damages and give me life again! Now I won't disappoint him!"

The dragon lunged at Zero aiming his fangs in the hunters' direction. He missed and Zero dashed towards the dragon making a large gash in his chest. Eregion opened his mouth shooting large ball like lasers covering the ground below them. Zero jumped dodging the attack. He aimed his Z-Saber making another giant mark on Eregions stomach. Eregion seemed almost oblivious to the blood pouring out of his wounds. He was persistent this time around.

"Eregion let's work together!"

"Master Dragoon" Eregion became covered in a ball of light as Dragoon morphed with Eregion creating a red fire breathing machine.

"*Gulp*" Zero stepped back hesitantly until his pride returned and he ran towards the giant machine Z-slashes blazing. He dodged the robo-dragons fire attacks as they left giant holes in the ground.

After much dodging and attacking, Zero finally delivered the final cut. He jumped onto the dragons tale, then his wings, and then onto his head. He took his sword and jabbed it into Eregions head damaging his main functioning drive. This caused him to shut down putting his systems into automatic destruct mode. Zero kept his distance from the blast making it a useless last attempt at defeating his enemy.

"I see you have redeemed yourself from the last battle…"

"Colonel… What are you doing here?"

"I've come to save my sister Iris."

"She's fine. I rescued her and brought here somewhere safe."

"Thank you Zero, I owe you one."

"I have a question to ask of you. Colonel did the Repliforce attack this place?"

"No, we came here for assistance to rectify the damage. We figured Maverick Hunter would be here as well."

"Then please disarm and come back to base with me, our sources suspect that the Repliforce has become a maverick organization."

"What? No, we are not! But regardless of what you think I cannot go back with you. We solders never drop our weapons!"

"But then you'll be branded as mavericks!"

"So be it. The Repliforce prefers war over dishonor and shame! Farewell Zero!"

"Colonel, wait Listen to me!"

But before Zero could utter another word Colonel was gone.

"Damn!" Zero mumbled with gritted teeth.

"Zero did you find the maverick who destroyed the Sky Lagoon?" X asked running in Zeros direction.

"Yeah, he's dead. I defeated him."

"Good" X said relieved "Other then hordes of mavericks that had arrived after the crash I couldn't find any survivors…" X bowed his head in sorrow.

"X, we did the best we could. Now let's head back to base. We have to plan our next move. Another war is coming."

"Repliforce… Did they do this?"

"No, but they won't disarm and disprove our suspicions of them being a group of mavericks!"

"This is bad! You're right let's go!"


	9. Coup D'état

Chapter 9: coup d'état

X and Zero both teleported out of the city and back to the command room. The intercom reported maverick sightings close by. All of them were members of Repliforce.

"Iris what are you doing here?" Zero questioned in shock.

"I'm going to some of the maverick sightings. See you guys later." X ran out of the command room to his destination when he noticed Double waiting by the entrance way.

"Umm Sir… Sorry to bother you, but I'd like to help you during this crisis. I know I'm just a rookie, but I'd like to help in any way I can. The name is Double by the way incase you forgot…" The chubby yellow reploid said.

"Sure Double I don't see a problem. Keep an eye out for any new information while I am away ok?"

"Yes sir! I'll do my best!" Double saluted as X ran out the door.

Back in the command room Zero was surprised to find Iris at Maverick Hunter Base.

"Zero… My brother started the coup."

"I know."

"Please don't fight him! This must be a mistake! Let me talk to him before you both do something rash!" She pleaded.

"They have already taken over several cities in this short time. It's my job to stop them!"

"Zero, wait please!"

"I have to go Iris! Try to understand that I have to do this…"

Before Iris could respond Zero left to his assigned areas leaving Iris there to contemplate what she should do next.

Zero and X were out on missions all day long. Double kept his cool and researched information. He tried to keep updated on the current happenings of the war and what Repliforce was up too. He had plenty of information to give X already.

Iris on the other hand was frantic with worry. She desperately didn't want her brother and Zero fighting. All she wanted was to live happily with Zero by her side; to live happily with both her brother and Zeros love to keep her content and safe.

She grabbed the phone in one of the smaller offices and called her brothers private phone line. It rang a few times and then went to the answering machine.

"Brother it's me… Listen I'm begging you… Please don't fight with Zero. I don't care what reasons you two have to fight, so please… There has to be another way. You know how I feel about him brother… Why would you do this? Never mind that question. I already know why… You tell me every time the enemy won't listen to my peaceful proposals. It's about protection, it's about honor, and it's about PRIDE! What is it with you warriors and pride? Can't you set it aside for once? Can't you just spare his life?? I don't care about anyone else…!"

Iris hung up the phone and walked back to the command room waiting for Zeros return, knowing deep down that neither Colonel nor Zero would listen to her pleas.

That evening X and Zero arrived from their missions and were ready to get up early the next morning to complete the rest of them.

Double reported to X his findings and what Dr. Cains assumptions were for the cause of the coup. X congratulated Double on his good work and dismissed him for the night. X went to bed early and slept in his recharge capsule until morning.

Zero was worried about Iris because of how they had left things in the command room, so he decided to visit her in the guest quarters.

He knocked on her door, no answer. He knocked again and still no answer.

'She must be asleep already… Maybe tomorrow…' Zero thought walking to his room and shutting the door to turn in for the night 'I know this is wrong… I'm not stupid… I know the Repliforce are not bad people and Iris is suffering because of the fighting, but I can't ignore my orders. It's my job… I have no choice… Damn Iris, I'm doing my best. I hope you know that…'

The next day X left to complete his last few missions. As Zero was exiting the command room Iris ran up to him.

"Zero I have a message from Repliforce."

Colonel appeared on the wide screen television "Zero I'll be at Memorial Hall. Be there!"

"Zero, please don't…"

"This is a matter of Pride now! I won't turn away from a battle! I have to go!" Zero declared warping out of the command room before Iris could plead with him anymore.

"No… I… I…" Iris mumbled with gritted teeth, her eyes shut tightly holding back the tears "I can't take this anymore…"

Meanwhile at Memorial Hall Colonel was waiting for Zero to show himself. His hands were itching at the thought of a sword battle with his new rival, especially with a reploid so worthy of his skill. He wouldn't have to hold back at all with Zero.

"Colonel, I'm disappointed in you!"

Zero jumped off of a ceiling ledge and landed in front of his opponent.

"What are you doing you idiot?"

"It's not too late. Stop the coup!"

"Never"

"Fine… Then take this!" Zero shouted swinging his Z-saber at the Colonel. They both stared into each others eyes as they pushed against one another swords clashing until suddenly a loud scream rang through the hall.

"Stop it!" Iris screamed "Please brother don't you remember? Zero saved my life!"

"And I am thankful for that… but this is different. This has nothing to do with favours or friendship! This is about our honor and pride as warriors; as soldiers!"

"Iris go back to Maverick Hunter. It's not safe here." Zero told her.

"Fuck why won't you listen to me…? Don't you understand how stupid this is? How meaningless and pointless all this fighting is…?! Just stop it now!"

"My dear sister, I'm sorry that you don't understand, but trust me this is for the good of Repliforce! It's not just about my honor as a reploid, but for the honor of everyone in our organization! Now do what Zero says Iris… Please leave!"

"Fine… You brought this on yourself Colonel… Since I can't convince you with peaceful means then I will have to use violent methods like you do… Because in war there are always sacrifices right? It's the price we pay for peace…"

Zero and Colonel just stood there confused. No understanding of what she was saying or what she meant.

Suddenly Iris pulled out a gun from her bag. She held it up to her face, grabbed the trigger, and aimed at her throat trigger finger ready to fire at will.

"Iris what are you doing???" The Colonel yelled "Put that down… Y-you don't know what you're doing!"

Zero stared in silence with a look of fear and shock spread across his face. He finally managed to speak "I-Iris don't do it!"

"Make one more move and I'll shoot! I'll do it! I'll show both of you how meaningless this feud and war really are! Every war has a sacrifice, something that makes both sides stop and look towards other options. If I have to be that sacrifice to keep you two from dying at each others hands then so be it! I'd gladly do it because… You are the most important people in my life…!"

The area filled with tension as both men stood frozen in fear. They were afraid to act and afraid to not act. They didn't know what movement would send her off the edge to pull the trigger on her self.

Colonel broke the silence "Alright! I'll spare him for now…" He said walking away not even looking back at Zero or his sister.

Iris dropped the gun to the ground, her hands shaking at what she was thinking of doing. She looked up at Zero "Zero… Please try to understand why I did that… I'm afraid that one of you will end up dead! That would devastate me! I'd rather it be me instead!"

Zero turned away and punched the wall of Memorial Hall "Damn Iris! Someone has to stop Repliforce! Don't do that again!" He ordered.


	10. Sacrifices

Chapter 10: Sacrifices

Zero walked Iris back to Maverick Hunter H.Q. He knew that Iris would be ok waiting for him in the command room. He knew she wasn't serious about hurting herself she just wanted desperately for the war to end as did he.

X returned from his missions later that evening. He congratulated Double on another successful mission. He told Double to take the night off as he walked past into the command room. X came in to confirm some information that Double had given him, when he noticed Iris crying in the corner.

"Iris, are you ok?"

"No… I'm sorry X. I just don't know what to do anymore…"

"Oh, about Repliforce you mean?"

"Yes, and about my brother and Zero… Everything is so hopeless!"

"Iris…"

"It's ok X… I understand why Maverick Hunter is fighting Repliforce. You're doing your job. I know that."

"Iris… I'm sorry… I wish there was something I could do to convince Zero and your brother to stop. I am against this war as well, for different reasons. I hope it stops soon too, before anyone we care about gets hurt."

Iris smiled and looked up at the green eyed hunter "Thank you X, that means a lot too me."

"Keep trying Iris. Don't give up on them."

"I would never…"

X looked up with a dazed look on his face "I guess I'm done for the night. I'm going to bed. Tell Zero hi for me."

"I will. Goodnight X" Iris smiled.

X smiled and nodded back as he exited the command room for bed.

A few hours later Zero returned to find Iris looking very concerned.

"Zero, Repliforce is at the Space Harbour."

"I have to go stop them once and for all!"

Iris paused, looking at him with sad eyes as he departed for the Space Harbour. She remained in deep thought for a few minutes, remembering the words of wisdom that X had shared with her. She then realized what she had to do and with that she ran for her next destination.

Zero located Colonel at the Space Harbour his Z-saber in hand for self-defense.

"Colonel this is my last warning. Stop the coup! I'm asking you as a friend! I don't want to fight you!"

"No… Besides we have already begun our launch into space! Our time has come, the time for the glorious region of only reploids to be born under our protection and services!"

"I can't let you do this!"

"Then fight me Zero."

"But Iris will be sad if she loses you."

"Don't be so presumptuous and fight me!"

Zero and Colonel fought a violent duel. Zero and Colonels swords clashed with great force and strength. Both men fought passionately for their individual causes and there own personal longing of battling the other as an opponent.

Zero emerged as the victor. He leaned beside Colonel with a sad look in his eyes. Colonel just chuckled with a smirk.

"You're too late Zero Repliforce has already left for the Space Colony! You're too late! Tell Iris I died happily with honor…"

Zero walked away a few steps as Colonel collapsed to the floor. He warped to Hunter Base to prepare for his next mission to attack the space colony when X ran into the command room.

"Zero have you seen Iris…?"

"No, where did she go? Did she leave with them? Damn!!"

"Double is gone too, I found most of my unit slaughtered when I got back from my last mission! What has happened here…?"

"Do you think Double kidnapped Iris?"

"I wouldn't put it past him! Shit, how could he do this to us??"

"I don't know, but I have a feeling they are at the Space Colony. Let's go!"

Zero and X left quickly for the Space Colony the both of them frantically looking for Iris. Deep into the base the two reploids found Double holding a blade to Iris' neck.

"Come one step closer and she's dead!"

"Zero, help me please!" Iris screamed.

"Don't worry Iris I'll handle it!" Zero shouted.

"I don't think so…" Double laughed hitting the switch on his back "X you are such a fool! Trusting someone you never even met! You'll learn your lesson with her as the sacrifice! Hehehe I worked for Sigma the whole time! Stupid idiots both of you…!"

"No!" X shouted as he realized that the switch was Doubles self-destruct mechanism. Double exploded severely damaging Iris with the impact.

"Iris!" Zero shouted running over to her lying motionless on the floor "Iris…"

"Zero…" Iris said weakly looking up at Zero who was knelt down beside her.

X remained across the room and watched as Zero held her. He knew that she was not going to make it because of the major explosive impact. He turned his attention to Zero and Iris' last words together.

"Please… Stay away from Repliforce… Why can't we live in a world where only reploids exist…?"

"Iris there is no world only for reploids. It's only a fantasy… Humans and reploids need to get along together…"

"I know, but I wanted to believe it was true…I wanted to live in that perfect world…together with you… Because I love you Zero…"

X knew that his best friend loved her as much as she loved him even though he never admitted it. The last gesture he saw Zero make was him holding her hand as she smiled at him and died in his arms.

Zero screamed as he held her body close to him.

"Why… Why…? This can't be happening! There's no reason for me to go on! What am I fighting for…?" Zero screamed.

X stood in silence. He didn't know how to answer that. Only Zero knew that and he had to figure it out for himself.

After Zero put her body down he ran out of the room. X wanted to follow for support, but he knew that all Zero wanted right then was to be alone for awhile.

He decided to run ahead to encounter the General. He wanted to know why the Repliforce did this in the first place.

"General! So many people died because of you!" X shouted pointing in his direction "Iris, Colonel, did you not care about them? Did you not care about the humans you made suffer by taking their homes? These lives are on your conscience!"

"I have no regrets X. If you think you can stop us then so be it!"

X fought with the General guns blazing from both sides. Zero jumped in later in the battle and assisted X in defeating him.

"Zero, X, you are both so strong… I can sense you have grown in strength…"

The ground began to rumble and the Space Colony shook as it started to load its weapon into position. The charging blast was aimed at the earth.

"What's happening?" X asked

"No! The weapon shouldn't be working! I never turned it on! No… It can't be him…!"

"Who General…?" Zero urged.

"Sigma…"

"He's alive…? But how…?" Zero stammered.

"I knew it!" X muttered clenching his fist hard "The mission in Point-D that I was sent on six months ago do you remember…? The maverick I was sent to kill was gone by the time I reached the ruins of the lab! He'd gotten away and… Sigmas data was gone! I kept looking for him, but I couldn't find the maverick that was reported to have stolen Sigmas virus data."

"Yes, we sent him and then disposed of him after he had finished his duty…" The General said weakly.

"Where is Sigma now?" Zero asked.

"He should be in the main control room. Hurry quickly." General ordered them "leave now. I will be alright…"

"General, thank you…" X nodded running towards the control room.

"Yes, I thank you General. Escape now." Zero nodded running after X.

"Sigma… I can't believe he's alive…" Zero commented while running.

"I'm sorry. It's my fault for not catching the maverick that did this."

"You couldn't help it if the maverick escaped before you got there X! Stop blaming yourself for tragedies that are out of your control!"

"Thanks Zero…"

X and Zero entered the control room and saw Sigma waiting for them in a long black robe with a hood, holding an axe. He looked the spitting image of the grim reaper.

I've been waiting for you X and Zero! Welcome."

"Sigma…!" They both said in unison.

"Zero, I've been especially looking forward to seeing you… I've been having so much fun infecting your dreams."

"So it is you giving me those nightmares! But why…?"

"Do you not remember? You were a maverick! My unit was sent to destroy you after you had destroyed Gammas unit. You were in a cave and we battled to the death. I defeated you and brought you back to be reprogrammed." Sigma giggled as if he was giddy with delight about this chance to tell him his past "You, Zero a maverick… remember all of the people you killed both human and reploid… Remember all of those countless lives… Their blood is on your hands! And it's not just your past Zero. It is your destiny to kill. It is within you. Murderer…!"

"Shut up!" Zero shouted "So what if I was a maverick? It doesn't change how I am now! Now I fight mavericks the likes of you! I will defeat you sigma!"

"Yeah" X chimed in "He has made amends for his past actions by becoming a hero now! He isn't like that anymore!"

"Fools… You will see…"

Sigma raised his battle-axe in the air ready to fight. Zero and X took their weapons and attacked. Sigma shot attacks of fire and lightening while Zero and X dodged the attacks.

Sigma stabbed Zero in the left shoulder with his axe. Zero grabbed his shoulder in pain as he retracted his Z-saber. He took out his standard Z-buster and fired a few bullet spurts, but Sigma managed to dodge them seamlessly "X!" Zero shouted in frustration.

"Don't worry Zero I have an idea! Follow my lead." X charged his X-buster. At the same time Zero charged his Z-buster holding onto the power increasing in their buster cannons.

"Ready? 1, 2, 3…!" X yelled both reploids releasing their charged plasma shots sending Sigma back to destruction.

"This isn't over yet! The weapon is still aimed at the earth!" Sigma laughed.

"Not if I can help it…" A voice called out. Next thing they knew a giant golden reploid who was heavily damaged ran speedily into Sigma.

"Damn you General! I can never die!!"

"At least I can destroy this weapon and save everyone!" General stated ramming into Sigma and the panel controlling the weapon "X, Zero… Tell everyone at Maverick Hunter I'm sorry…"

The entire place began to explode with General and Sigma inside; both men screaming in agony as they killed each other.

"General!!!" X screamed.

"X, there's no time we have to escape now!" Zero said grabbing Xs shoulders and guiding him out to the escape pods "Thank you General…"

The giant flower shaped weapon that was aimed at the earth exploded into the atmosphere thus creating a giant stream of light to appear. X and Zero flew back to the earth in their separate one-man space ships.

While traveling back to Earth they reflected on the past happenings of the 4th war with Repliforce along with all of the innocent lives that were lost.

Zero reminisced about his time with Iris. He wished more then anything that he could have saved her and as he stared off into the stars he wondered…

'Iris… I'm sorry for everything… Do we reploids all turn out to be mavericks after all…?'


	11. Aftermath

Chapter 11: Aftermath

The casualties of the Repliforce war were very high. Many of the Maverick Hunter members had comrades and partners there who had been retired. Since there was little maverick activity for the time being the majority of soldiers were able to take temporary leave for bereavement.

Behind the scenes of Maverick Hunter Headquarters it became disorganized as a whole. Out of guilt the leader of MHHQ had quit and left the military institution with no one to run it.

This made Dr. Cain scramble to produce a reploid who could take over the position. He had been playing with the idea of using his most cutting edge technology to create a reploid who was designed for a commanding position, but it would take time. He had to hope that a severe maverick threat would hold off until then.

Zero and X used their vacation time to spend a few days at the shelter with Jade, Kate and the gang. They needed some time away and they both felt comfortable enough to relax there without any interruptions from work.

Zero and Kate sat in one of the small offices near the navigation room. They were planning out defense strategies for if X and Zero were away during the time of attack. He also suggested an escape plan incase their defense plan failed.

Kate eyed the map on the table in front of them as Zero pointed out plausible escape routes until Kate suggested they take a little break.

"Zero… Thank you for helping us with these plans. None of us here have any extensive military training or background at all."

"No problem" Zero said leaning back in a relaxing position.

"Zero… I heard about what happened from X and I just wanted to say I'm sorry. Iris sounded like a very nice girl… I know because your voice would light up every time you so much as mentioned her name. It's ironic because when we first met you said you weren't interested in the icky love stuff and that's usually when you find someone and then Iris comes into your life… It's just so tragic. I guess what I'm trying to say despite all my babbling is… If you need anything we're all here for you…"

"Save it Kate. It happened and talking about it won't make it go away, so just drop it ok?!"

Kate winced and pulled back like she had just been smacked in the face by someone she cared about. Zero saw this and his face softened slightly.

"*sigh* Thank you Kate. I'll keep that in mind."

Kate wisped a small smile as she drew her attention back to the map on the table averting her eyes away from Zero.

In the Barracks sector of the shelter Jade and X were sitting in the dining room enjoying some hot chocolate and snacks.

"What's wrong X? You look sad. This is happy relax time!"

"I'm sorry Jade… I am trying to be happy."

"I understand. It's the events of the 4th war isn't it? You miss the friends you had there now that they are retired?"

"Yes, but I am more worried about Zero. He lost Iris his love. I want to help him…"

"Don't you miss her too?"

"I do, but I didn't know her that well. She was more of an acquaintance really." X sipped his hot chocolate.

"It takes time to get over a massive war time like that. This grief will pass."

"I hope so…Jade…?" X asked looking up at her and setting his cup down in front of him.

"Yes?"

"How do you do it?"

"Do what?"

"How do you keep going? Fighting? Helping people? Trusting people? Holding on to your beliefs and what's right? How do you keep from giving up?"

"I don't know… Well I… I guess it's because I am strong in my beliefs just like you. I believe in justice and a peaceful world for all reploids and humans. That's why I helped build this place. It's because of my beliefs that I trust people. I think there is good in the world and there is good in everyone. I think that's why I help people. I want to protect them and surround them with good things because the world can be so harsh. I don't agree with violence to achieve peace, but sadly the way the world is… we have to fight. We have to face reality and the reality is that we have to fight to defend ourselves."

"You're wrong we don't have to fight!"

"Only we control our actions. I would love to stop fighting and live peacefully with Kate and my friends, but it's because of them that I keep on fighting. To prevent anything terrible from happening to them, that is why I fight, but if I could I would stop this instant!"

"So… you fight to protect the people you love… I do too… But we're killing countless people who will never get to see the peaceful world once it arrives."

"I keep repeating this phrase in my head whenever I am on the battle field –Kill one save a thousand- The mavericks we kill would have disrupted the world we fought for sooner or later. We can't change others only ourselves"

"I'm sorry… I just can't turn my back on my belief in true peace being achieved by peaceful means not through violence!"

"So then quit! No one is forcing you to stay. Either way I admire you X! You fight hard to protect everyone and you value all living things. If you stop fighting then you are honoring yourself, demonstrating your beliefs and setting an example for others. You are a leader by example X whatever you decide… It's up to you…"

"You know I read in history books about humans that had done the same thing. Gandhi sticks out in my mind the most."

"Yes, people have done it, but it takes strength to follow your heart. Could you sit back and watch your comrades battle on the field? It would be a hard thing to watch."

"So I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't is that what you're saying Jade?"

"No, just choose wisely that's all. No regrets."

X smiled and put his empty cup in the sink. Jade stood up and looked at X.

"Let's go see what Zero and Kate are up too."

"If I know Zero he has dragged your wife to the briefing room."

"Let's go see what's up. It could be important."

"Good idea."

X and Jade entered the small office aka the briefing room to see what their colleagues were up too. Zero informed them of the defensive and offensive plans Kate and him had discussed while X and Jade sat and listened. Everything was in the process of being arranged incase a surprise attack were to take place on the base. The plans were set.

"I see" Jade commented leaning over at the map "So we exit through the side door to the right of the base and sneak down that long hidden pathway between the mountains, then we turn and travel deep inside the forest outside of Beat Village. We set camp by the stream and we wait for you there gotcha!"

"That was the best route we could come up with for now." Zero spoke up.

"I agree. It is the most isolated from all the other alternatives." X jumped in.

"Then it's settled" Kate said standing up from her chair "I'll inform every one of the plans we came up with. See you later."

"We have to get back to Headquarters now." Zero arose from his chair as well stretching his legs and arms.

"Yes, I think we've overstayed our welcome and besides we have some new members arriving. We have to be there for some of the interviews." X added.

"Ok, see you boys later!" Jade waved "Thanks for everything. We enjoyed your visit!"

"So did Zero and I. Take care." X waved back exiting the shelter.

X had a lot to think about on his way home after his talk with Jade. He never thought about things the way that Jade had explained it. It hadn't dawned on him that he could just stop fighting whenever he wanted, but he still wasn't entirely sure if quitting front line work was worth the consequences. With that in mind he felt it safe to continue fighting until he felt totally sure what his decision was.

Zero had much on his mind too. He had a week roughly to grieve over Iris' death and even though it wasn't a lot of time he felt it was time to move on. He always lived in the here and now and the present time was telling him to continue his job before something terrible happens. He realized he had to get over Iris someday. He also knew that he had plenty of support from X and the shelter members whether he wanted it or not, so until that day came he had to distract himself using his surroundings.


	12. All Is Fair In Love and War

Chapter 12: All Is Fair In Love and War

Darkness filled the night sky in the city of Mettool Town, not even the moon dare cast its presence. In a small building near the outskirts of town a man wearing torn jeans, a wrinkled T-shirt, and a short brown leather jacket entered Aaron Dyson' office. The man had dirty blonde hair, white complexion and wore sunglasses. He looked between the ages of early to mid 40's by the condition of his skin.

Aaron sat at his desk arms folded awaiting the mysterious mans report "Is this it?" Aaron asked impatiently grabbing the folder from his grasp.

"Yes it is."

"Are you sure that's where they are?"

"Positive I even had my most reliable sources triple check the coordinates. The Yashichi Mountains to the far north my spies recorded some of the members entering the mountain they couldn't believe their eyes at first. It's all here on this Data Disk."

"What took you so long finding it?" Aaron demanded snatching the Data Disk from his clutches.

"The shelter they are hiding in is well hidden. It was in the last place we would have suspected. Who knew they had that type of technology?"

Aaron stroked his chin in deep contemplation as he put the Disk into the computer "If I remember correctly Jade won't go down without a fight. I hate to think about having to fight her after all she is my daughter… But she won't listen to reason, so I have no choice. She refuses to open her eyes to reality! She persists on protecting those dangerous war machines they call reploids! She wants to stay blind to the truth! No, I can't let paternal feelings stand in the way of justice! I have to do this for mankind' survival…!" He leaned in and turned the computer off. He turned back around to face the older man still standing there with a concerned look on his face.

The man stood paralyzed refraining from saying anything that might offend his boss "Sir…"

"Set the plan in motion. Get your men in position. We will join you soon. The plan is set and we shall execute!"

Back at Maverick Hunter Headquarters…

"Ok, that's all for now. We'll call you when we've reached our decision." X stated sorting a pile of papers on the desk in front of him.

"Thank you for your time sir." The male reploid arose from his chair shaking Xs hand before exiting the office.

"That's the last one for today…" X sighed leaning back in his chair folding his arms behind his head "I wonder who the counsel will decide to hire? We certainly aren't in a position to be picky." X said to himself as he organized all the papers and shoved them in the top drawer.

X jumped when he heard a loud knock on the door. He looked up and saw Zero standing in the doorway "Hi Zero."

"Hey X, are you done all your interviews? Dr. Cain sent me to fetch you. He has someone he wants us to meet."

"Ok let's go."

Zero and X sauntered down the hallway chatting on their way to Dr. Cain' laboratory.

"So X, did you interview anyone who you predict will be hired?"

"I… don't know."

"I know what you mean; I haven't been having a lot of good steadfast candidates either… accept for this one girl. Her resume was brief, but her experience far outweighed her short resume. I could see her being hired."

"Her quality outweighs her quantity?"

"Yes. I would be surprised if we didn't hire her." Zero winked as they both entered Dr. Cain' study room awaiting the news.

"X, Zero, I wanted you two to be the first to meet your new commander. His name is Signas and he will be running Maverick Hunter Headquarters from now on. Please make him feel welcome."

Zero nodded in agreement.

"Yes, Dr. we will." X said cheerfully walking over to shake the tall, muscular reploids hand "My name is Mega Man X. Everyone calls me X for short, nice to meet you Signas."

"Nice to meet you X."

"I'm Zero. Welcome to Maverick Hunter." Zero bowed then shaking his hand after X stepped back.

"Thank you. I look forward to bringing a new era of peace by running this institution."

"Good to hear. Now, I will show Signas around and show him his duties. You two have the night off to do what you like. Your duties will resume in the morning." Dr. Cain ordered leading Signas out of the room.

A few weeks later Maverick Hunter Base was running smoothly. Signas quickly settled into his job and the overall atmosphere was much more positive among the members. New blood came flooding in and headquarters seemed to be bustling again like it was in the good old days.

X, however did not notice the busyness because he was cramped in an office in the basement. His work load had increased in paperwork due to the lack of maverick rampages. X considered this a good thing in the sense that he did not have to fight anyone, but he didn't like how it gave him lots of time to dwell on his troubles.

"Hello my good friend!" Zero greeted slyly leaning against the doorway.

"Zero, I'm busy go away." X responded with an exasperated tone.

"You're always busy now X. Take a break for a bit. Have you had a chance to introduce yourself to the rookies?"

"No, because I'm swamped with reports to write!"

"Well there is one rookie who wants to meet you. I have a feeling me and you will be working with her quite a bit, so drop your work for a second. Come on in Alia."

"Alia…?" X looked up and pushed his laptop aside. He saw a reploid girl walk in with an average build, black spandex, and pink and white armour. She had a white complexion with short blonde hair and dark blue eyes. On her head she wore a headset with a microphone on it.

"H-hello sir" Alia said shyly walking into the office "My name is Alia. I am the new commanding navigator here. I look forward to working with you on the frontlines."

"Pleased to meet you Alia and call me X it's fine."

"Ok X. I hope to see you around sometime." She smiled walking out the door.

Zero and X both waved goodbye as Zero closed the door leaving just him and X in the office. Zero smiled at X "Well, when you're done how about we hang out tonight maybe go eat and hit the bar?"

"Sure. I'm tired of being stuck indoors!"

Late evening X packed away his reports and left to go meet Zero when he ran into Alia in the hallway.

"X, I'm so happy to see you. Are you off for the night?"

"As far as I know… yeah"

"Great! Wanna grab a bite to eat?"

"Actually I was just going to—"

"Where would you like to go?" Alia asked excitedly.

"Uh… Um…" X knew he agreed to meet Zero and spend time with him, but something inside him couldn't say no to her. He decided to go with Alia and spend some time getting to know her since she was new and probably didn't have any friends yet. He and Zero could go out another time he figured as he mustered up an answer to her question "How about Maison de Ballade?"

"Oh no I meant a casual place. That's too expensive!"

"No, it's my treat. It's ok."

"But… We just met…"

"So… Think of it as a welcome to MH."

"T-thank you X. You're very sweet." Alia blushed smiling.

X drove Alia to the restaurant on the hover bike. He parked and they walked inside. It was a half hour wait since X didn't make reservations in advance. Neither X nor Alia minded however. They figured it was more time to get to know each other one on one.

"What do you think of this place Alia?"

"It's nice… but you really shouldn't have felt obligated to take me here."

"Like I said it's no trouble at all. Please don't feel guilty."

"Ok… I'll focus on enjoying myself."

"What made you want to join Maverick Hunter?"

"For a change mostly, before I applied I used to work as a researcher with my lab partner Gate. We were reploid engineers. Gate and I would analyze data, new parts, and even build reploids ourselves. Sadly one day our lab was destroyed by mavericks. Gate along with most of my other colleagues were trapped inside at the time. I was lucky to have been using one of my vacation days at that time… Oh I'm sorry I trailed off from your question… While analyzing the data I studied different programming codes and languages. That's what made me interested in this job prospect. As a navigator I can put these skills to good use."

X looked sympathetically at Alia "I'm sorry that happened to you…"

"It's ok. It was about a year ago now… I have a good feeling about Maverick Hunter I already feel at home there."

"Good I'm glad." X smiled warmly.

"What about you X? What made you join Maverick Hunter?"

"To sum it up… obligation…"

"Huh?" Alia stared in confusion.

"I joined because… I blame myself for the maverick uprising… Every reploid in existence is based off parts of my design, so when something goes wrong and they become mavericks then I think I am responsible for taking them down… If it wasn't for me then this wouldn't have happened..."

"X… I don't think it's your fault at all… How could you predict it would happen?"

X took Alias hand in his "Alia… I am not a violent man. Please believe that…"

Alia looked into Xs deep emerald green eyes. She was almost mesmerized by the pure, heartfelt honesty he portrayed to her. Suddenly X snapped back into reality and quickly let go of her hand pulling away from her "Alia… I-I'm sorry… I shouldn't have done that! Please forgive me!"

"No it's ok! I admire your honesty X. I find it endearing."

X looked over at the waiter who was signaling them to come over "Looks like our tables ready. Let's go."

"Ok. I'll follow you."

Alia and X were seated at the table. They continued talking all through the night about a variety of different topics. They discussed every topic under the sun practically in Xs opinion. Before they knew it, it was 2:00am.

"Holy shit, look at the time!" Alia said in shock as the waiter ushered them out of the restaurant.

"I guess we had too much fun." X laughed.

"I think we did too." Alia giggled pushing him out the front door playfully.

"We're going to be zombies at work tomorrow."

"I know!" Alia laughed "But I'm having too much fun I don't want this night to end."

"I don't either… I have an idea. I have a special place in the woods where I like to relax in solitude would you like to come with me? It's beautiful at night."

"Sounds pretty, but… I don't know…"

"I know it sounds creepy… Some guy you've only known for a day… But, there's something about you… I can't describe it… I've never been this open with anyone before."

"I haven't either… I really like you too X."

"So why not trust me? You know I'd never hurt you Alia… Like I said I'm not a violent man…"

"Well… Ok."

Alia and X rode to the forest on the hover bike, they parked next to a tree in front of a nearby stream. The air was cool and fresh, the sound of the stream mixed with the chirping of crickets made the area very soothing. The only light in their vicinity came from the moon and the stars above.

X and Alia lay in the fresh grass continuing the conversation from the restaurant.

"So that's what you're hoping to accomplish someday. I wish you success!" X said happily. He couldn't believe how much he enjoyed hearing her talk. She always had interesting things to say.

"Thank you X. I wish you luck in writing your novel and finding your own career path once we have achieved peace." Alia responded encouragingly. Alia loved the evening with X. She was glad she persuaded him to come with her. She never wanted the night to end. She always wanted to be by his side; to have many days and nights just like this one.

"Alia…?"

"Yes X?"

"I… No nothing."

"No, what is it? Tell me."

"It's just that I'm having so much fun with you. I don't want to leave your side. I always want to be with you. I want you for our mind and… other things…" X said hesitantly, his facing turning a deep crimson red.

Alia turned a deeper red "I… always want to be by your side too X. I want us to have plenty of days and nights just like this one because I… I love you X… Yeah I know we just met, but I have never felt this way about anyone before…"

X took Alias hand and leaned in giving her a passionate kiss on the lips. After he pulled away only slightly "I feel the same way Alia… I just didn't want to scare you off by saying so…"

"No you haven't… If anything you have reassured me that I am safe with you… X, I want to stay with you forever… Please never leave me…"

X held Alia close in his arms. She leaned her head on his chest as she listened to his cybernetic heart beat. Right then she knew what she wanted to do and she knew that X would agree to it. She had never been so sure of anything in her life "X… Do you know what humans normally do when they want to commit to each other?"

"Yes, I am a big reader remember. They perform a ritual called marriage. The bride and groom have a ceremony and then they have a big party afterwards. They write vows and exchange rings as a symbol of how much they love each other."

"Why can't we do that?"

"The law hasn't granted reploid marriage legal yet."

"Oh yeah"

"But there isn't any reason why we can't do it ourselves"

"How…? We don't have a minister or a judge."

"We don't need those people to marry us. We can say our own vows here right now and then we can stop off at a jewelry store on the way back to base early in the morning."

"Really…? That's a great idea! Let's do it… Um, I mean… Only if you want too"

"Alia… I do" X smiled staring into her shining blue eyes

"X… I do" Alia smiled as she caressed him with kisses and hugs.

When they woke up they scrambled back to Maverick Hunter Base, picking and purchasing their wedding rings on the way. They ran into the back door hoping that no one would notice how late they were out. Unfortunately they had an unexpected visitor greet them at the door.

"Zero" X exclaimed "What are you doing here?"

"Where have you been? The commander's been looking for you! You're lucky it hasn't been long since the alert!"

"Alert…? Uh-oh" Alia panicked.

"Come with me and don't worry I've got your back. X you owe me an explanation after this!"

"I promise. Thanks!" X said thankfully.

"Whatever… Wait… What the hell is that on your finger?"

"Oh… these…? That's the reason we're late…" Alia responded in a timid tone of voice.

"Wow! Congratulations! But I don't know if Signas is ok with workplace relations and he's quite peeved at having to track down you guys, so I don't think now is the best time to bring it up, so I'm going to stick to my plan for now."

"Thanks Zero. I owe you one!"

"Come on hurry up!" Zero urged leading the way.

X, Zero, and Alia all ran into the command room where Signas was waiting for them "You two better have a good excuse as to why you're late!"

"Sir they were here in the data room downstairs with the door closed. The overhead intercom doesn't seem to be working in there. I tested it. We should have tech-support take a look at it right away."

"I will see to that, but right now we have bigger problems."

Alia hurried to her navigation post ready for duty while X and Zero sat to await the briefing.

"What's the situation sir?" X inquired.

"The Earth is in total chaos. As you know the humans have begun building colonial habitats in space. A virus has taken over the colony of Eurasia and is heading towards Earth at an alarming speed. The sigma virus is our most likely perpetrator. This could cause serious damage to the planet if we don't stop it now!"

Zeros communicator on his Z-buster began to beep "Excuse me commander this is important." Zero dashed out of the command room and snuck to a secluded part of the hallway "This is Zero."

"Zero, it's me Kate! We're under attack! We're surrounded. Jade is fending off the people blocking our escape route. Please hurry!"

"Shit! I can't get away right now! Eurasia is going to crash into the Earth and mavericks are storming through out the city!"

"Oh my God, ok we're implementing the plans we had discussed and any other plans we have made last minute. Don't worry we'll be ok at the meeting point! Please come as soon as you can."

"Wait… Kate… I'm on my way!" Zero disconnected and ran back to the command room.

'Shit! What do I do?'


	13. The Hand of Fate

Chapter 13: The Hand of Fate

Zero returned to the command room keeping his cool, calm demeanor. Signas turned to him and summarized what he had missed.

"Zero, we have found out a way to try and stop the Eurasia Colony before it hits the earth. We have an old, but powerful laser cannon called the Enigma. It's in the storage hanger. Now is the time to use it."

"Yes sir." Zero nodded.

"That's not all. I want you and X to obtain these parts." Signas gave Zero a piece of paper with the pictures and explanations of the parts needed for the Enigma "These orders take into affect immediately. Please leave now."

"Yes sir" X nodded leaning over Zeros shoulder to look at the schematics.

"X let's go prepare for a minute." Zero nudged. He walked towards the door motioning for X to follow him promptly. X looked at Zero puzzled, but he still followed his trusted friend.

"What is it Zero? This is unlike you… You are usually the first one off to the mission site!" X exclaimed.

"Things are bad X! Really bad"

"Huh?"

"The shelter is being attacked as we speak. They've taken the escape route, but I worry how safe they really are at the meet-up point."

"No… Along with the Eurasia disaster… what do we do?"

"We have to think of something…"

"I'll go. Zero I'll need to ask you to take on my portion of the Enigma assignments. You go find the parts we need and I'll go help the shelter members."

"X you can't just abort your missions!"

"What other choice do we have? We'll be lucky if they're not dead by now!"

"We have no choice. We need to let Signas know what's going on!"

"No, we promised!"

"It doesn't matter now!"

"Damnit Zero it always matters!"

"X think! It's too risky, especially if Signas finds out I was lying for you just now. I have a bad feeling about this plan. We need to figure out something. Let's ask Alia and at least fill her in. She's our navigator after all. It won't hurt to confide in her X you should know."

"I suppose you're right…"

"Let's go to our destinations. The three of us can contact one another once we arrive."

"Ok."

X and Zero arrived at their missions points. X turned on his comm. Radio "Zero, Alia can you hear me?"

"Yes." Zero answered.

"X is everything ok?" Alia asked.

X paused unsure of what to say. He sighed heavily 'Please forgive me for this…'

"Are you still there?" Zero questioned.

"Yeah…" He answered in hesitation "Listen Alia there is something I have to tell you that's really important."

"Sure. General Signas stepped out for the moment so now is a good time for chatting."

"Then let's make this quick!" Zero rushed.

"A few years ago Zero and I ran into some people who organized a shelter for humans and reploids to escape the cruelty of our society. They asked us for our help against certain political organizations who are against our cause and want to see the sanctuary the shelter members built and worked so hard to keep peaceful destroyed. They urged us to keep it a secret because our base is so well known that they didn't want to risk dangerous reploids like Sigma finding them through us. We have known them and been helping them ever since, but now they are in danger. That's why Zero stepped out of the room. They called him to report the attack because my communicator was shut off since last night. Now with the Eurasia crisis on our hands we can't get away to help them or meet them at their safety location. They could be dead for all we know. We don't know what to do next and we need your help to figure it out."

"Alia, I know it's a lot to take in right now, but we need get there somehow without jeopardizing our missions or ignoring our orders." Zero added.

"Hmm… I think I have an idea, but you might not like it… Try contacting one of the shelter members now to get a status report. Continue your assigned missions and complete them. In the meantime I think we should tell Commander Signas the situation and we'll organize a rescue team to bring them here for safety. I understand they don't want us involved, but this is a matter of life and death! We have to do all we can. These are innocent lives remember?"

"You're right Alia. Ok, pass the message to Signas and have him send a search and rescue party to the forest area behind Beat Village." X ordered.

"Ask Signas to contact me if you have any problems getting him to agree or if you need the coordinates." Zero jumped in.

"I will. Good luck both of you…"

The transmission ended. Zero and X completed their missions in approximately 5 hours. Once they gathered all the parts for the Enigma they returned to base for another briefing.

"X, Zero, Alia told me about the shelter situation. I sent a search party 4 hours ago and no one has returned yet. I am starting to get worried about our troops and the shelter members you spoke of. We have been trying to contact them, but we can't get through."

"I request permission to go check it out sir!" X offered.

"Yes, you and Zero should go find out what is happening, but first did you retrieved all the parts for our Enigma Cannon?" He watched Zero and X both put the mechanical parts on the table "Good work! I will have our mechanic and tech supports do the rest. Go search for our comrades."

"Yes sir!" X and Zero confirmed in unison transporting closest to their destination.

They teleported to Mettool Town and walked a far ways to the Yashichi mountains.

"Zero, let's check the base first for any stragglers and to see what has happened there."

"Good idea." Zero agreed. Both reploids using their speed thrusters to hurry to the attack point. What they saw was a sight that would stay within their CPUs forever…

"NO!" X yelled running towards the complete destruction ahead. The base was completely in ruins with the entrance caved in. The ground was a dead zone covered in land mines and dead corpses both human and reploid. Many were so badly burned or destroyed that you couldn't even tell the difference anymore.

"Holy crap…" Zero whispered slowly walking behind X "There is no way humans alone could have done this kind of damage… X, watch the land mines!" Zero cautioned.

"W-what happened here?" X stuttered in intense horror.

"I don't know. Let's find out and keep moving."

X and Zero secured the area looking for any signs of survivors from the remaining corpses that were still in tact, however none were found. They continued down the escape route that was arranged looking for survivors or clues to what had happened. The smell of burnt flesh, blood, oil, and metal blew through the air as they walked making them feel sick to their stomachs.

More carnage and destruction awaited them at the meeting spot by the stream. The rescue party was all dead along with the majority of the shelter members and many of the ARRM soldiers.

"This has turned into an all out blood bath!" Zero exclaimed "Are Kate and Jade among these people?"

"No we have to keep looking!" X protested calling there names.

Zero maneuvered through dead corpses, tall grass, and shrubbery until he found Jade lying beside a nearby tree. She was wounded badly and several broken limbs.

"X come here quick!" Zero yelled. He ran towards Zero finding Jade resting beside him.

"X, Zero…"

"Jade I'm so sorry! Where are the others? Are there any survivors at all?"

"ungh… T-they're all dead… Everyone… I tried… There were too many of them…"

"Please rest. Don't talk" X whispered soothingly.

"No… the leader of the ARRM is my father… I know he arranged the whole thing… He came along on the ambush… He told me to stand down and I refused… We fought and I killed him… All of our members fought… Despite the casualties on both sides we still managed to escape… Then your rescue team arrived… Soon after Sigma came he said he followed your recovery team… He wiped them out… I ran… We all ran… I couldn't do it… I couldn't save anyone…" Jade closed her eyes and tears started to form down her face.

"Jade please hang on. I'm so sorry!" X apologized.

"Shit… It's our fault…" Zero commented softly.

"No… It's not your fault… Don't blame yourselves. You had your duty to fulfill and you still wanted to help us, so you sent out soldiers to save us as a last resort… Thank you…"

"But…" X hesitated.

"We need to contact a medic!" Zero suggested trying to snap X back into reality.

"No, it's too late now… Please stay…"

X held her hand gently as Jades eyes began to slowly close "X, Zero… No matter what protect humans and reploids… Do whatever you need to achieve peace whether it's by fighting or peaceful means… Whatever it is just do what's in your heart and do your part to keep the world safe… I want our base to be a symbol of the utopia that we work hard to achieve every waking moment… I…" Her eyes closed as she lay still into her eternal sleep.

X closed his eyes and bowed his head in sorrow until he saw a bright flash of light cover the sky. A large explosion followed along with falling lights that almost resembled a fireworks display.

Zero turned to face the bright light "Looks like the Enigma was a success"

"Maybe, but you're going to join your friends within the fiery depths of hell!" A voice came from behind X. They both turned to face their opponent.

"Sigma… You bastard! How could you do this?" X snarled angrily.

"It's simple. You're all idiots with extremist ideals! My new world doesn't need idiots and fools in it, so best to be rid of you!"

"You monster…!" Zero screamed running and performing an upper-cut with his saber in front of Sigma. It just barely missed his face.

"Almost, Zero, but too slow!" Sigma sang dashing towards them and shooting a large charged shot. X and Zero jumped out of the way and squared off in separate directions surrounding Sigma on both sides.

"I won't let you get away with this!" X said sternly holding up his X-buster.

"My, my, it seems to me that you are just looking for someone to blame, but shouldn't you be blaming yourselves for all of this? You took a long time to get here. Did even do your best to save them in the end? How does that feel on your conscience X and Zero?"

"Shut up!!" Zero shouted shooting a slice beam from his Z-saber hitting Sigmas forehead. The small crystal on his forehead broke causing him to grab his head screaming in pain.

X decided to strike while the iron was hot. He shot a charged blast from his buster cannon causing him to fall backwards into the water. He shot his weapon Tri-Thunder electrocuting Simga as the attack mixed with the water. He exploded suffering severe bodily damage, but before X and Zero could finish him off he used his teleportation system to get away.

"We… I failed!" X stated emotionally as he fell to his knees.

Zero put his hand on Xs shoulder "Come on let's head back to base now. It's no good for us to stick around here anymore."

"You're right Zero… Let's go."

Back at Maverick Hunter Headquarters Zero reported the horrific results of the mission and suggested that unaffected crew members be sent to clean up the area. Signas agreed and dismissed him.

Zero was concerned about how distraught his best friend was about last mission. He had never seen X so depressed before. He decided to visit X in his room to try and make him feel better.

"X? Can I come in?"

"Sure…" X said quietly sitting on his bed. Zero opened the door and sat beside him. No words were spoken for at least 5 minutes.

"Zero… I can't believe we failed… Everyone… Worst of all it's MY fault!" X cupped his hands over his face and buried them in his lap.

"It's not your fault X…"

"Don't Zero! If I had kept my promise none of this would have happened! The rescue crew wouldn't have gone, Sigma wouldn't have followed them, and they might still be alive right now!"

"X, no one could foresee this happening. We didn't know. We just did what we thought was best! We didn't know this would happen!"

"If only I had gone with my original plan!"

"Yeah…? What if Signas found out you were playing hooky on your missions. Would you rather get fired?" Zero looked up when he heard a knock at the door. It was Alia. She sat on the opposite side of X.

"X, are you ok? Please talk to me…"

"I don't know what to do anymore… It seems like whenever there is a glimpse of peace somewhere it eventually becomes ruined… The shelter…Doppler Town… Even Repliforce… It all ends in ruins. I don't know if peace is worth physically fighting for anymore…"

"Please don't blame yourself. You did the best you could do! We all did."

"I know… but obviously our best wasn't enough…"

"So… What are you going to do now?" Alia asked. Zero nodded wondering the same thing.

"I… I think I'm going to stop fighting until further notice. I think it's time I take my beliefs and start practicing them… I owe it to Jade, Kate, and the shelter members… And to myself…"

"If that's what you want X. Go ahead."

"Yes, whenever you are ready go talk to Signas I'm sure he can find you plenty of jobs to do inside the base that doesn't involve fighting." Alia said giving her man a hug.

Zero put his arm around them and guided them up off the bed "How about we all take the night off and go do something fun even if it's low key like some movies and popcorn?"

"Good idea!" Alia said cheerfully.

X gave a small smile. He knew that he was lucky to have such wonderful people in his life. He knew that he would never once regret knowing the people he had met through out his journey and the people he will continue to meet.

X knew that he had to keep that hope for peace alive and with his best friend and wife by his side supporting him. He knew he could do anything…

~The End~


End file.
